Published: May 02, 2008 12:28 am            

CITY OF TONAWANDA: Walking for Wyatt

A little more than nine years ago, Julie Sutker took little Wyatt to his two-month checkup and was told what no parent ever would want to hear. “They said take him home, love him, he’ll be dead within another six months,” Julie’s husband, Steve Sutker, recalled.

The Sutkers were informed that Wyatt had Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1, the most common fatal disorder to infants. Typically, the infant dies before age 2. April 13, 1999 — three and a half months after the prognosis — Wyatt passed away.

That same month, Wyatt’s grandparents, John and Sally Sherman, of the City of Tonawanda, established the Wyatt Kyle Sutker Foundation. They’ve also held a walk to raise awareness of and research money for the disease. The ninth annual Wyatt’s Walk takes place at 10 a.m. Saturday at Veterans’ Park, beginning and ending at the picnic shelter. Registration for the 3-mile walk is $15 and includes lunch after the walk. There also will be prizes and raffles.

“The walk stands as a memorial to Wyatt and his short life,” Steve Sutker said from Columbia, Md., where he and Julie live. “We get people together to walk for a disease that really impacts thousands of infants a year, so it’s really a good community activity.”

The event has raised more than $250,000 for SMA Type 1 research. Because of the Shermans’ volunteer efforts, “The foundation doesn’t have any overhead, so 99.9 percent of the money goes right to the foundation,” John Sherman said.

Between 200 and 300 people are expected to participate in the walk, and many include families with children, Sherman said.

One out of every 6,000 live births is affected by SMA, Sherman said, and 1 in 40 people carry the recessive gene. “It’s a genetic condition where the spinal nerves aren’t able to grow,” he said, adding that the infants can’t move their arms or legs and lose their ability to swallow and breathe.

Thanks to the Wyatt Kyle Sutker Foundation and the annual Wyatt’s Walk, more and more people are learning about this terrible disease. “We have a database of 1,200 people who didn’t know about it before who know about it now,” Sherman said.

Contact reporter David J. Hill at 693-1000, ext. 115.

        

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