In their Woodbridge home, just north of Toronto, siblings Claire and Josef Gortnar keep busy playing indoors during the coronavirus pandemic. “Knowing that my two young children have a terminal illness with a compromised immune system makes them an easy target for a virus like this,” explained mother Terri Gortnar.
The siblings are fighting a rare, deadly disease. CLN2 Batten disease is an inherited nervous system disorder. No specific treatment is available to cure it, but treatments exist to manage the symptoms.
Over time, Batten disease damages the brain and nervous system. The risk COVID-19 poses to children like the Gortnars is serious. “My daughter would not survive this.