Published: April 17, 2008 07:48 am      

Dinner to raise funds for boy

Roxbury 2-year-old has muscle disease

By Mark Boshnack
Staff Writer

A brighter medical future for a 2 1/2-year-old Roxbury boy is the goal of a benefit dinner Friday. The spaghetti dinner being held from 4 to 8 p.m. at Charlotte Valley Central School is one of the fundraising events being held to pay for the $28,000 stemcell infusion Dylan Utter needs to treat his spinal muscular atrophy, a couple of family members said.

SMA is a disease of the motor neurons that affects the voluntary muscles used for activities such as crawling, walking and swallowing, according to the Families of SMA website, www.fsma.org.

Dylan was diagnosed with the disease when he was 15 months old, said his mother, Erica Utter. The treatment, which uses stem cells from umbilical cords, isn’t covered by the insurance her husband, Fred Jr., has. Treatment will be administered in the Cayman Islands because it is not available in the United States, she said.

She learned of the treatment through Internet research she began soon after the diagnosis. Until she started taking Dylan for treatments to a Staten Island doctor, he could not hold his head up and had little muscular control and movement, she said.

“The difference is unbelievable,” she said.

The family had a benefit last week in Roxbury, where her parents live and where she grew up. Her parents own the Davenport Center Diner.

Her husband’s parents, Fred and Judy Utter, helped arrange Friday’s benefit in Davenport. “We want to do anything we can (to help),” said Superintendent Mark Dupra.

The school is regularly used for community service events, he said, and this is a worthwhile project.

Dylan’s grandfather Fred serves as supervisor of highways and assistant chief at the fire department. A family friend is organizing another benefit April 26 at the Harpersfield Grange Hall, said Fred Utter. “People have been very generous,” he said. The family was hopeful the infusion would lead to an improvement in his condition, he said.

Erica said she has explored diet, vitamins and whatever offered her son a chance for a normal life, and she is hopeful that the infusion will be successful. If so, she said, it will not only lead to a better life for her son, but it will allow her to spend more time with the couple’s 1½-yearold daughter, Caylinn, who does not have the disease.

Donations and benefits have raised about $18,000 in accounts at NBT Bank in Dylan’s name and at Delaware National Bank of Delhi for Fred Jr. and Erica Utter in trust for Dylan.

For more information, call Erica Utter at 326-6025.