MADELINE
Madeline is a smiley 15-year-old girl with big blue eyes and curly brown hair. She loves people, music, and when her mom helps her play Soda Crush on the iPad. She’s also fearless and enjoys riding a horse named Piphy on the weekend and going to the beach where her dad throws her high above the ocean waves. Her grandfather makes her laugh and laugh.

~Marilyn, Madeline’s Mom

Unspecified Hypomyelinating Leukodystrophy
Leukodystrophies are a group of disorders that cause deterioration of the white matter, or myelin, in the brain. The term leukodystrophy comes from the prefix leuko, meaning white, and the word dystrophy, meaning imperfect growth. Therefore, leukodystrophies are characterized by imperfect growth of the white matter in the brain.
While the specific cause of many leukodystrophies have been identified based on the genetic mutation causing the disease, nearly half of all individuals diagnosed with leukodystrophy have yet to receive a known source of the genetic defect. This is where the term “Unspecified leukodystrophy” is derived, which is also sometimes referred to as undiagnosed leukodystrophy.
Artist: Kimberly Cusack