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Duchenne UK news

World's Strongest Boys

We are delighted to share with you an important first for us - we’re launching a fundraising and awareness campaign for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.  

It’s called The World’s Strongest Boys, and it has the support of sports stars including Jessica Ennis-Hill and Owen Farrell.

The idea of The World’s Strongest Boys campaign is that it focuses on the incredible inner strength and spirit of those living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, positioning them as heroes. 

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a progressive muscle wasting disease that makes those living with it physically weak. But we believe that having to live with this reality makes them incredibly strong; it makes them the World’s Strongest Boys. 

The launch campaign enlists a cast of famous sporting heroes and other performers to create short films showcasing jaw-dropping feats of physical strength. In each of these films the athletes voice the words, “If you think that’s strong, check out the World’s Strongest Boys”.

Central to the campaign is a 60-second film revealing the true identity of the World’s Strongest Boys, shown through the eyes of 10-year old Alex Hallam.

On the website, World’s Strongest Boys asks people to use their muscles to help boys losing theirs. They can do this by buying a range of fitness products – protein shakers and t-shirts – or by registering to take part in a series of ‘World’s Strongest Boys’ sporting events. We will also be selling World’s Strongest Girls t-shirts. All the proceeds will be used to fund vital research into treatments and a cure for DMD. 

Duchenne UK would like to thank Gavriel Rosenfeld, Saul Catlin, Joey Levene and Alex Hallam - for being the World’s Strongest Boys.

We are incredibly grateful to the brilliant team at WCRS who created and built the campaign. We’d also like to thank the film director, George Belfield, of Somesuch, and Kuba Wieczorek, the photographer behind Channel 4’s ‘Superhumans’ campaign for the Paralympic Games in 2012.

Co-Founders and Directors of Duchenne UK, Emily Crossley and Alex Johnson said:

There are around 2,500 people in the UK living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy including our sons, Eli and Jack. Although they have weak muscles, they, like all patients with DMD - are anything but weak. The incredible strength and defiance they show to not let Duchenne get the better of them, is awe inspiring. We are at a potentially breakthrough moment in the history of this disease, and treatments are on the horizon. Having the likes of Jessica and Owen already show their support for the World’s Strongest Boys, fills us with a huge amount of pride - we want this movement to empower our sons and empower our community, and encourage everyone to share their feats of strength via social media, as they join our fight to End Duchenne.

Please do go to the website, meet the World’s Strongest Boys, and share with everyone you know. Even better, please film a feat of strength, post it on your social media with a link through to World's Strongest Boys.  Please encourage your friends to do this too, the more people who sign up to this movement, the more powerful it will be. 

Published on 17 July 2016

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