Game Changer

by Paul Frase, Alison Rockett

Overview

Would Joshua die the day he was born?

After twenty-four days in Medical City's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Dallas, Texas, Joshua was sent home with his parents, Paul and Alison. The doctors said, "If your son is alive in a year, bring him back and we'll re-evaluate him." The doctors couldn't possibly have known what would take place over the next 15 years and 11 months.

Joshua's will to live, mixed with the resolve and relentless fortitude of his mother and the determination of his NFL father would change the face of Myotubular Myopathy (MTM) and neuromuscular research. History was destined to be written.
It's a story of a boy, a dog and a cure.

"The truth of the matter is nobody is perfectly normal. We all have various types of characteristics, but one thing is for sure; none of us are the same and none of us are completely different."
~Joshua Miles Frase ~ 2009 ~ 15 years of age

Product Details

BN ID:	2940186588474
Publisher:	Southern Yellow Pine (SYP) Publishing
Publication date:	01/13/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Paul Frase and Alison Rockett had everything—Paul was an NFL defensive lineman; Alison was an assistant manager for Guns N’ Roses and a personal assistant to fashion design mogul Max Azria, founder of BCBG.
Their first child, Joshua, was born with a muscular disorder called myotubular myopathy (MTM). The doctors would not give him more than 24 hours to live.

Alison became Joshua’s advocate, and eventually the patient advocate for a whole community.
Alison taught herself how to keep her son alive and had to resuscitate him numerous times. Before Joshua had his first birthday, Alison and her husband, Paul, started a foundation that would one day find the cure for their son’s disease. Knowing nothing about scientific research for a rare orphan disease, Alison educated herself and trusted her instincts, and when she received a vision of handing a large check to a renowned researcher, she chased that vision with relentless passion until its fruition.

Alison has since been published in Human Gene Therapy and was featured in the MIT Technology Review. Alison has forged relationships with MDA, NIH, NORD and Global Genes during the Joshua Frase Foundation’s quest for a cure for MTM. Paul and the family were featured in USA Today during the week of Super Bowl 32, when he was a member of the Green Bay Packers squad.
Paul and Alison have been interviewed by Jerry Lee Lewis of the MDA Telethon, Jeremy Schaap on The Sporting Life, and countless other television and radio personalities and broadcasts. Paul also has been on Fox and Friends to promote the foundation.

Paul played for eleven seasons as a defensive lineman (from 1988 to 1998) with the New York Jets, Jacksonville Jaguars, Green Bay Packers, and Baltimore Ravens. He is the unprecedented two-time recipient of the Ed Block Courage award, a peer selected honor that identifies a team player who exemplifies commitment to the principles of sportsmanship and courage. Paul’s job as an NFL defensive lineman was more than just a dream job; it was the vehicle the Frases used to start their foundation, give it its much-needed publicity, and provide its initial financial backing.

One of Paul’s greatest joys, however, happened off the football field. Instead of carrying a pigskin ball, he carried his precious son, Joshua, through the playground of life, one activity at a time.