Running has always been a way to relieve stress for Michelle Beaulieu, but this year she is using her passion for the sport to make a difference in the lives of boys and young men suffering from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (MD).

Beaulieu will compete, along with her husband, in the 2008 Walt Disney World Annual Marathon on a team called Run For Our Sons, which is part of a non-profit organization named Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy.

Two of Beaulieu's three children suffer from MD, which is a disease that afflicts male children, resulting in a decreased amount of muscle mass and progressive loss of muscle function.

'I'm not worried about the technical aspect of the marathon, it is more of the camaraderie and the team and just why we are doing it and the significance of all that kind of stuff,' Beaulieu said. 'Just kind of knowing we can be part of something and we can make a difference-I think that helps you cope. So you can see some positiveness and some hope, rather than just dreading the future and what might come for the boys.'

There are nine different types of muscular dystrophy, but Duchenne is the most common and most fatal. The disease is caused by a mutation of a specific gene within the X chromosome, which as a result prevents the ribonucleic acid (RNA) strand from being able to read DNA molecules when attempting to create dystrophin protein, a critical component of muscle tissue. Females can be carriers of this disease, but generally do not experience the symptoms of the condition.

Cardiac problems are inevitable with boys who suffer from this affliction and can even begin before a child reaches his teen years. Boys with MD will typically lose their ability to walk between the ages of 10 and 14. By their late teens, the loss of the majority of their upper body strength will occur, which can include the ability to use their arms. The heart and lungs are also affected and over time both respiratory and cardiac systems will weaken, resulting in the need for constant support.

Besides medical steroids, there is no current treatment for this disease, which affects three in every 3,500 boys worldwide. Medical steroids can't stop the spread of the disease, but can be used to help make the active muscle cells stronger.

Five years ago, Beaulieu's middle child, Ross, was diagnosed with the disease in Grade 1 after he began to have trouble getting up off the floor. As a result, Beaulieu had her two other sons tested and while her eldest son, Dawson, was perfectly fine, the blood work in her youngest born, Finn, revealed the deletion of the gene, which is one of the two types of the mutation. Ross is currently 11 years old and needs the use of a wheelchair part time, while 8-year-old Finn, despite being fairly active, can still have trouble getting up a flight of stairs.

A few years ago, Beaulieu and her husband, Steve, discovered Parent Project MD while at B.C. Children's Hospital in Vancouver. They have been members of the organization ever since.

Parent Project MD currently has chapters all over the world and was founded by Dr. Pat Furlong in 1994 after her two sons were diagnosed with the disease in the 80s. The organization's mission is to improve the quality of life and survival rates for all individuals with MD through research, advocacy, education and compassion. Parent Project MD donates 100 per cent of their funds towards researching initiatives and has helped make tremendous strides in the process towards finding a treatment over the last five years. The most promising potential treatment involves trying to develop a molecule that could fill the gap created by a deletion that would allow the RNA to be successful in the process of creating protein. Some type of drug for treating DM could be available within the next two to five years. Parent Project MD's goal is to raise $500,000 at the marathon.

Parent Project MD holds an annual conference every summer and it was while attending this event that Beaulieu and her husband first learned about the marathon. This will be the first year the two are involved with the run and they will take all three of their children with them. Beaulieu will participate in the full marathon, which is just over 42 kilometres, while her husband, who doesn't have quite as much experience in long distance running, will take part in the half marathon, which is 21-km.

The Beaulieu's commitment participating in the marathon involves raising $1,200, but the couple decided to set a personal goal of raising $5,000 each to be donated to the organization. So far the two are less than $30 away from achieving their $10,000 combined total.

Both Michelle and Steve felt so strongly about all of the money they raised going directly towards Parent Project MD that they are paying for the trip to Florida with their own money. Donations can be made online at www.firstgiving.com/stevebeaulieu or www.firstgiving.com/michellebeaulieu

Beaulieu, who has been a member of a running group ever since she moved to Whitehorse four years ago, said it is important to put on these marathons.

'I think it is really important because it is easier to get pledged for something than it is to just ask for money and I think the fact that you are doing something and someone can pledge you has a little more meaning to it,' she said. 'Running seems to be a really successful way to raise money. That is why probably more non-profit organizations are doing that and then you get some publicity because all of the people running in their own little towns get publicity over the run and so the word spreads. I think it is a really effective way to get the word out there.'

Beaulieu said the community has been very supportive.

'It's been great that way in the sense of we feel very supported here and people are very generous and it took us almost no effort to raise the $10,000,' she said. 'A lot of that money has come from people in the Yukon, just donating to us online.'

When her two sons were diagnosed with the disease, Beaulieu stopped running for a few years because of guilt about making her muscles stronger when theirs were only going to weaken with time. Since then she has gotten over those feelings and realized that running makes her a more focused person.

'I need to be a strong person to support them and if I don't do what keeps me healthy then I can't be a good parent,' Beaulieu said. 'So I try really hard now to stay healthy and strong for the kids, emotionally and physically, and I feel like I have more energy for them and I can give them more.'

She said the hardest part is watching her sons grow up.

'Time is definitely an enemy,' Beaulieu said. 'If we could just keep them the age that they are now because it is a progressive disease, it is not something that has remissions, comes and goes, it's just as the clock ticks on more muscle cells die, so they do get weaker.'

Despite the lack of awareness most people have about MD, Beaulieu is hopeful about the future.

'You don't have much if you don't have hope,' she said. 'I don't want to live in fear every day, so I have to live in hope. We feel more hopeful since we have become involved. It doesn't make it easier, it just helps you stay positive because I don't think there is much point in being doom and gloom. It doesn't help the boys at all and we have to just enjoy every day and stay hopeful. My heroes right now are the scientists out there working away dedicating their whole career to this disease because those are the kind of people we meet at these conferences and they are making progress.'

Beaulieu said she will be thinking of her sons and other boys she has met through her involvement with Parent Project MD while running the marathon.