Family fights for genetic screening to save others from muscle-wasting disease afflicting their toddler

After finding out that a simple screening could have prevented their son from developing an often fatal muscle-wasting disease, one couple is fighting to make the genetic test required for other newborns so no other family has to suffer the way they did. Chris and Regina Philipps of Haddon Heights, New Jersey, describe their 17-month-old son, Shane, as a typical toddler in every way. When Shane was just 10 months old, he was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a genetic disease that affects the motor nerve cells in the spinal cord, and eventually erodes your ability to eat, walk or even breathe.