Following the devastating diagnosis of Duchenne muscular dystrophy when he was just 4 years old, Nikita and Dan set up Dominics Sunshine Trust.

Nikita Said

People always told us how beautiful our son is, they would always say he looks like an angel but also questioned why he seemed so little or wasnt hitting the expected milestones. As a mum I guess I filled that gap with excuses. I started to wonder why something seemed a little bit off and we saw various health professionals to try and answer concerns on speech, balance, coordination and melt downs. After 2 long years, Dominic was diagnosed with autism

During this time Dominic was at nursery and had repeated falls, the nursery staff noticed his lack of strength and suggested certain exercises. Nikita and Dan couldnt understand as they were doing everything asked of them but it wasnt working. One day at school Dominic had another fall that ended in a trip to A&E, at this point they demanded the paediatrician to do something, test anything that could explain why this was happening and they took some blood tests.

A few days later the family received a letter which explained Dominic's blood showed a very high CK level (creatine kinase). Nikita and Dan googled this and MD came up, everything made perfect sense with all the issues Dominic was having but couldnt believe this was happening to their son. Soon after Dominic was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and a month later Nikita was diagnosed as a carrier of the condition.

We believed in many ways we were the perfect family, husband, wife, son, daughter, even the dog and the house. After Dominics diagnosis our whole world came crashing down around us and, in many ways, ended our happily ever after

The family hope for many happy years with their beautiful son and their motivation for setting up Dominics Sunshine Trust is to make everyday a little bit brighter and to create as many moments together as possible. With more funding, research and time one day, hopefully no child or family will endure this.

Dominic is my sunshine, so please dont let Duchene take my sunshine away.

Net proceeds from Dominics Sunshine Trust will be split 80% for research into Duchenne muscular dystrophy and 20% for the family's welfare