Fighting for Approval and Winning

Walker, Madison, and Jordan are three relentless advocates whose determination helped push a life-changing therapy for Barth syndrome across the finish line. In this episode of Energy in Action, host Marcy Young sits down with them to unpack the deeply personal journeys that led each of them into advocacy—from living decades with debilitating symptoms, to fighting for newborn sons in heart failure, to honoring loved ones lost too soon.

They share how grassroots organizing, congressional outreach, social media campaigns, and powerful patient testimony helped turn a devastating FDA denial into an eventual approval for elamipretide. Along the way, they reveal what it felt like to count remaining medication vials, stand outside the White House with photos of their children, and finally hear the words they had fought so hard for. Their stories are raw, hopeful, and fiercely determined—and they show exactly what can happen when rare disease families refuse to give up, not just for themselves, but for everyone still waiting for a chance.

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