Middle-East (English) 
The Beaulieu family story showcases how a neuromuscular disease affects the health of two brothers and how ResMed’s Astral™ life support ventilators are an essential part of their daily routine.
Neuromuscular disease (NMD) is a broad term that encompasses many diseases and ailments that impair muscle function, either directly via intrinsic muscle pathology, or indirectly via nerve pathology.
Some NMD patients are characterised by progressive muscular impairment leading to:
- loss of mobility
- being wheelchair-bound
- swallowing difficulties
- respiratory muscle weakness
- death from respiratory failure.
Neuromuscular disorders can be divided into rapidly progressive and slowly progressive:
- Rapidly progressive disorders are characterised by muscle impairment that worsens over months, and results in death within a few years (e.g. amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Duchenne muscular dystrophy [DMD] in teenagers).
- Variable or slowly progressive disorders are characterised by muscle impairment that worsens over years and only mildly reduces life expectancy (e.g. limb girdle, facioscapulohumeral and myotonic muscular dystrophy).