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27 Eric's Amazing Race car rally coming to an end by Tim Whitnell Metroland Media West | Thursday November 2, 2017 | Eric Morden puts the amazing in the Amazing Race-type fundraiser that has bore his name annually in Burlington for the last 14 years. The 17-year-old Oakville resident with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is preparing for the 15th version of Eric' s Amazing Race, a car rally originally inspired by the popularity of the then-new reality TV adventure show The Amazing Race. A Grade 12 student at Oakville Trafalgar Eligh School, Morden has been at all the races, even as a toddler. Over 14 years, Eric' s Amazing Race has raised $225,000. All monies go to Jesse' s Journey a London, Ont.-based charity that has granted more than $9 million for Duchenne MD research. "It' s been really great. The money raised has been awesome,' said Morden, who says a personal highlight of the annual event has been having his brother Devin, 16, and cousin Nathaniel Johnston-Lindsay, 17, at the rally year after year. He says he' ll likely be "a little sad" when the 15th and final edition of Eric' s Amazing Race, slated for Nov. 4, is over "(but) I' m looking forward Eric Morden, 17, of Oakville stands with a poster comprised of the 15 individual posters used annually to promote his Eric's Amazing Race car rally. | Brandon Otero photo to starting something new," he said of future fundraisers with a different theme. "I know my uncle Ted has been thinking about that," said Morden, referring to Ted Lindsay, an account executive with the Burlington Post, the Oakville Beaver's sister publication. Lindsay and his wife Heather Johnston are a driving force behind Eric' s Amazing Race. "This is his Christmas," Lindsay said of the annual car rally. "Eric emcees. He' s a really dynamic kid. It' s an important day for him." Lindsay said most of the medical advances with Duchenne MD have been in the area of medication aimed at controlling the disease, but there have been strides made in physiotherapy. "A lot of advancements have been made to improve the quality of life, in adaptability and comfort level. "Fifteen years ago there would have been no kids his (Eric' s) age walking. He has been on anti-inflammatory medication since the age of three or four. It has kept him ambulatory," said Lindsay, also a board member of Jesse' s Journey. Deflazacort, an anti-inflammatory corticosteroid, is one of the medications Morden is on. "Medication (costs) for boys with Duchenne is astronomical," said Lindsay, noting coverage was approved by government several years ago. "It' s all a race against time for boys like Eric; it was then and it still is today." Although a fatal muscle-wasting disease with no current cure, Morden' s Duchenne MD has been held at bay somewhat. In mid-August he re-started weekly treatments in London, Ont. Called Exon Skipping, it' s a genetic therapy that attempts to bypass damaged sections of DNA that control the dystrophin protein. The muscular protein dystrophin is compromised in Duchenne MD patients resulting in muscle fibre damage. While many teenagers his age with Duchenne -- almost exclusively boys -- are often essentially wheelchairbound from by the age of 12-14 or sooner, Morden can still walk at 17. Lindsay says that is likely because of various experimental drug trials his nephew has been part of over the years, believed to have helped keep him as independently mobile as possible. Morden agrees. "I'm still walking at 17. I think it helped me. I'm doing really good." Co-captain of his high school' s robotics team, Morden says he swims twice a week and is still strong enough to walk unaided up to a kilometre before tiring and needing a wheelchair. Called The Final Lap, the 15th edition of Eric' s Amazing Race is on Saturday. Nov. 4. Registration is from noon-1 p.m. The car rally, as usual, starts at Burlington' s Bruce T. Lindley ES., 2510 Cavendish Dr. and ends at the Burlington Legion, 828 Legion Rd., where a silent auction begins around 3 p.m. Cost to participate in the rally is $10 a person. For more information, or to donate, contact Ted or Heather by calling 905-331-6874 or emailing tether69@ hotmail.com. O A K V IL L E B E A V E R | www.insidehalton.com YMCA Community Breakfast for Peace November 23,2017 |7:00-9:30 am Tickets on sale now! K e y n o te S p e a ke r: G a b rie lle S c rim s h a w Join us as we recognize local peacemaking youth, adults and groups by awarding them with a YMCA Peace Medal. Be inspired by our keynote speaker Gabrielle Scrimshaw, a First Nations advocate with a passion for social change. YMCA p e a c e 1 week V V is it y m c a o fo a k v ille .o rg to p u rc h a s e tic k e ts