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Today we’re talking with Mark Dant. He’s a dad (to a son named Ryan Dant), husband, and a volunteer board of directors chair at EveryLife Foundation in Washington D.C. as well as a volunteer Executive Director at The Ryan Foundation - both organizations exist to help families dealing with rare disease to have hope, empower their voices, and empower scientists to advance the treatments and cures for rare disease.

Mark didn’t start out in the rare disease world.

In fact, he’s retired from a 32-year police officer career where he was the police chief in Carrolton, Texas. In this episode, we really explore how Mark dealt with a pivotal moment in not only his life, but also his wife’s and son’s lives - that is, when Ryan was diagnosed with Mucopolysaccharidosis type 1, also known as MPS 1 - a rare disease with no treatment at the time.

We hardly talk about the actual disease, but focus on the emotions Mark and his wife have been through, including sadness, grief, terror, hope, and even happiness - from the moment Ryan was diagnosed in the early 90s to today. Those emotions propelled Mark forward to find funding and a scientist - Dr. Emil Kakkis - who could and did create the treatment Ryan Dant is on today, along with so many others with MPS.

This not only took courage and willpower, but emotional growth to transition from excelling at law enforcement to learning about science and the non-profit world from the ground up when libraries and books were the the primary research methods.

Before we dive into today’s episode, it’s best if you know the complete backstory for context. So, during the interview, I invite you to watch The Ryan Dant Story on 60 Minutes with Mark. It’s about 15 minutes long and you can find the link to it in the show notes at humanamplified.com/episodes/073.

Here at Human Amplified, listening to Mark look back over his memories was an honor - an emotional ride where I related as being a parent. Being able to see myself there with him and Jeanne lying on the floor next to Ryan’s bed, listening to him breathe - in grief, and then taking action in hope. So many of us can empathize with that.

This episode will bring you to tears more than once - tears of empathy in knowing how hard grief is and how having a child is like wearing your heart outside of your chest, and then tears of joy when you hear of the power held by a group of people on a mission to change the future.

Get ready to hear about an amazing chain of events that will blow your mind and inspire you to do what others say can’t be done.