The story of the Crowley family, whose two kids have Pompe disease, has been transformed into a Hollywood movie starring Harrison Ford, Brendan Fraser and Kerri Russell, the New York Daily News reported.
Megan and Patrick Crowley, from Princeton, N.J., suffer from the rare muscle-wasting disease. Their parents, John and Aileen, were told the kids wouldn't live past their ninth birthday.
Today, Megan is 13 and Patrick is 11. (Older brother John Jr. is unaffected by the disease).
When doctors told the Crowley's there was no cure and no hope, the family decided to take matters into their hands: John quit his job and founded a biotechnology business dedicated to developing a cure for Pompe disease.
"I was at home in New Jersey, holding day-to-day life together," says Aileen, 41. "But I had a lot of confidence in my husband. If anyone could do it, he could.
"People always say: ‘How can you do it?’ and I respond: ‘How can you not?’ Most people in this position would do anything they possibly could for their kids."
Meanwhile, Megan and Patrick were getting sicker. They needed ventilators to breathe, and they could barely chew or swallow food.
Eventually, the company was able to conceive a drug that showed promise. Megan and Patrick took part in the drug's clinical trials in 2003 — and the drug worked. Within weeks, the children regained their muscle strength and their organs, which were enlarged, shrank to normal size.
The movie, "Extraordinary Measures," opens in theaters Friday.
Click here to read the full story from the New York Daily News.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox