Faces of Mito Featured

Alyson Maxwell

Ever since she can remember, Alyson Maxwell has experienced chronic pain and near-constant headaches.

Growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s, Alyson knew she wasn’t quite like the other kids. “I used to randomly fall down the stairs – my legs would just give out,” she says. “I often tripped and my coordination was horrible. I’d play really hard with the other kids one day and then the next day I’d hang out on the couch with a book or play quietly by myself. I think that I knew, subconsciously, that I had to recharge my body.”

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Aiden Procyshyn

Aiden is one of the happiest kids you’ll ever meet. He is easy going and has the greatest smile. Aiden also has Leigh’s Syndrome, a debilitating mitochondrial disease. His cells can’t generate enough energy for him to function as he’d like to.

Despite being told that Aiden was unlikely to see his fifth birthday, this-soon-be six-year-old has started school in a stimulating environment where he will be surrounded by other kids and have the opportunity to develop.

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Zach Seymour

Zach Seymour is an expert at living with mitochondrial disease. He doesn’t have mito himself, but both his mother and brother do.

When Zach was 12, his Mom was suffering from chronic fatigue and sleeping for 14 hours a day. As a single mother of two, she worked at several jobs to try to make ends meet. She suspected mitochondrial disease but was unable to convince doctors in their small, rural town that this was a possibility. It was demoralizing, frustrating, and debilitating, as this lack of willingness to consider mito left them without a diagnosis. No diagnosis also meant no treatment, relief, support, or hope.

Read Zach’s Full Courageous and Inspiring Story