My heart is beginning to fail. President Trump can help save it. I am 24 years old, and I live with Duchenne muscular dystrophy—a fatal genetic muscle disease that almost always ends in heart failure. For most of my life, the decline felt gradual. Now it isn’t. But thanks to a new treatment that is awaiting FDA approval, my heart’s further decline can be stabilized.
In Duchenne, cardiomyopathy is the number-one cause of death. Doctors measure heart function using left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and once that number starts to fall, decline often accelerates fast.
An American company, Capricor Therapeutics, has developed an investigational cell therapy called deramiocel. It is the first therapy ever shown to meaningfully address Duchenne cardiomyopathy. The therapy works regardless of a patient’s genetic mutation and regardless of whether they can still walk. Most importantly, it targets the heart—the organ that determines survival.
Here is the most important fact the public needs to understand: time is of the essence.
Across trials, patients treated before crossing the ~45 percent LVEF threshold, a measure of how efficiently the heart is pumping blood, showed stabilization of cardiac function. Patients treated later still benefited, with slower decline, but timing clearly mattered. When Duchenne patients receive treatment before their ejection fraction drops below roughly 45 percent, heart function can be stabilized. If treatment begins after that point, decline can still be slowed, but the chance to truly preserve the heart is much harder to regain.
That difference is not academic. It is life or death.
And crucially, this benefit lasts. Long-term data from the Phase 2 HOPE-2 study now extend out four years, showing durable stabilization of heart function over time. This is not a short-lived effect. It is sustained, but patients have to get on the drug soon enough, or they miss their cardiac stabilizing window.
The science is no longer speculative.
The completed Phase 3 HOPE-3 trial also showed meaningful, statistically significant preservation of upper-limb function. For Duchenne patients, that matters deeply. These are the last things that keep us independent: feeding ourselves, brushing our teeth, combing our hair, using our phones, and hugging our families. Losing upper-limb function means losing dignity and autonomy.
There is no approved therapy today that directly treats Duchenne cardiomyopathy. None.
That is why this moment matters.
Capricor’s deramiocel pending FDA approval cannot be afforded to be delayed as other patients like me cannot survive without it.
Mr. President, this is American innovation at its best. An American company. American science. American patients. The United States has a chance to be the first country in the world to approve a therapy that truly addresses Duchenne heart failure—and in doing so, fundamentally change the course of a disease that has waited decades for real progress.
You have always said that when the science is real and lives are on the line, government should act—not stall. You championed the amazing Right to Try. You fought against delays that cost lives. You are the Make America Healthy Again President.
Under your leadership, this could be a defining achievement. The moment Duchenne stopped being an automatic death sentence from heart failure. The moment America led the world. The moment a president chose to cut through bureaucratic red tape—and saved lives — my life.
For patients like me, delay is not neutral. Every month matters. Every percentage point of heart function matters. If we can reach patients before that threshold, we can preserve hearts. And when we preserve hearts, we preserve lives.
Mr. President, the data is here. The opportunity is here.
You can get this done—by ensuring the FDA acts swiftly—and make history.
Elijah Stacy is a Duchenne muscular dystrophy patient and the founder of the nonprofit Destroy Duchenne. He consults with companies in the Duchenne space, including Capricor Therapeutics, and holds shares in Capricor. He writes as a patient and advocate.
Editor’s Note: President Trump is leading America into the “Golden Age” as Democrats try desperately to stop it.
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