SMA News Today
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Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Kevin Schaefer turns firsthand SMA experience into candid conversations about adaptation, access, care, work and relationships.
Kevin Schaefer makes life with spinal muscular atrophy concrete through interviews with people who know its daily negotiations firsthand. The conversations reach beyond diagnosis into employment, caregiving, marriage, parenting, travel, creative work and community, giving Health…
A night-time turn and a first flight: Kevin Schaefer lets you hear the logistics behind independence.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A patient conversation about travel, independence, and refusing to reduce disability to diagnosis.
Camille Gongor's conversation with Kevin Schaefer stays rooted in lived experience: travel, work with the European Network on Independent Living, co-founding iLiving, and the small decisions that make access possible.
A steady conversation about post school life, access, and the realities of disabled adulthood.
The episode keeps its focus on what life after school can look like for people living with SMA, with Jessica Keough and Kevin Schaefer carrying the conversation.
A calm, intimate look at SMA, motherhood, and the support that helped make both possible.
Jasmine Jackson's conversation with Kevin Schaefer is a measured account of living with SMA Type 2, motherhood, and the support that makes both possible.
A warm community check-in that follows SMA friendships from Orlando to Miami.
Kevin Schaefer's return to the SMA News Today podcast has the feel of a real reunion, with Stephanie Malin-Chavez and Sori Rivera bringing the easy back-and-forth that comes from knowing the same community.
A grounded accessible-travel conversation that is practical, candid, and useful.
Accessible travel is treated here as a real, day-to-day question rather than a slogan. Kevin Schaefer speaks with Corey Lee of Curb Free with Corey Lee, who has spent almost 11 years in the travel industry and makes a clear case for detailed accessible-travel guidance.
A calm, reflective conversation about disability, work, and learning that the room is often less judgmental than it feels.
Doug McCullough's conversation with Kevin Schaefer keeps a personal, unhurried pace as it moves through SMA Type 3, career, and the new book, then settles into Doug's shift toward accepting his disability identity.
A candid disability story about independence, work, and public life.
Candice Welch's story gives the episode its shape. She talks about living with SMA through the ordinary work of independence, from growing up before today's support tools to moving out at 18, building a life in Los Angeles, and pressing through fashion school and entertainment…
A careful look at how friendship changes when care becomes part of it.
Ashley Fox and Madeline Engel talk through a friendship that has had to make room for caregiving, burnout, honesty, and repeated check-ins. The episode works because it refuses to flatten that arrangement into an easy lesson.
Peter Attia evaluates longevity science, from CETP inhibitors to protein debates, through evidence.
Morning medical evidence, compressed for practice.
Medical research, translated through patient experience.
Lucy Trevino, a Chicago-based SMA Type 3 advocate and volunteer with Chicago Scholars, describes being diagnosed at age 4 after her mother kept pressing a pediatrician about tiptoe walking.
Kevin Schaefer, host of the SMA News Today podcast and a person with SMA Type 2, talks with Jenna Coburn, a 22-year-old from Palm Springs who works in social media and marketing for Access Medical.
Rebecca Mulhall, a single mother in Cleveland, Ohio, says her twins were born in 2022 at 34 weeks and diagnosed with SMA Type 1, while her son Antonio also has Down syndrome.
Kevin Schaefer of the SMA News Today podcast talks with Doug McCullough, a Central New Jersey advocate with SMA Type 3 and a former Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals employee.
Ryan Kinnear, a 45-year-old man with SMA Type 2 from Phoenix, Arizona, talks with Kevin Schaefer, who says he has SMA Type 2 and works as a columnist and forum director for smanewstoday.com.
Candis Welch, a Los Angeles-based DEI practitioner and founder of I Am Abled, says she grew up with SMA in 1985, when there was little technology and few medical advances.
Kevin Schaefer talks with Damon Vincent of Lafayette, Louisiana, an adaptive fitness specialist and personal trainer who works with people with rare diseases, including SMA.
Brother entrepreneurs Nolan (SMA Type 2) and Blake built Mullet Bros from viral TikTok moments to 280K followers and merchandise business with printing operations.
Kevin Schaefer, who has SMA Type 2 and writes for SMA News Today, interviews Andrew Cherico, a sophomore at the University of Central Florida studying sports journalism.
Jenna and Tanya Vega, a married queer couple in their mid-20s, share their seven-year relationship journey navigating love while one partner has SMA Type 2.
Kevin Schaefer speaks with Carrie Menriquez, an elementary school principal and mother to Ryan, who has SMA Type 2.
Kevin Schaefer, who has SMA Type 2 and works as a columnist and forum director for SMA News Today, talks with returning guest Shaniqua Granby of Virginia Beach, Virginia, about life changes since their fall 2022 conversation.
Colin Pollock describes being diagnosed with SMA type 3 at 13 after years of doctors guessing about his hips and back, then tracing how mobility, work, and family life changed over decades.
Savannah Huff says she was diagnosed with SMA type 3 at three and a half, walked until 19, and later stopped Spinraza after side effects outweighed the benefits.
Kevin Schaefer speaks with Kamil Goungor, a 37-year-old disability activist in Athens, Greece, who has SMA Type 2 and works for the European Network on Independent Living.
Diana Warren of Canton, Ohio describes being diagnosed with SMA at age 6, walking until about age 9, using leg braces at 9, and eventually relying on a wheelchair after scoliosis made the braces unusable.
Kevin Schaefer speaks with Jared Wayland, a graphic designer from Ontario, Canada, who was diagnosed with SMA at 13 after years of playing hockey, golf, baseball, and noticing hand tremors.
Ashley Fox and Madeline Engel trace how a college friendship at UCSD turned into a caregiving relationship when Ashley was close to needing to drop out without more help.
Kevin Chandler, founder of We Carry Kevin, describes how a 2016 Europe trip led friends to carry him in a backpack for three weeks, including a climb toward Skellig Michael.
Kevin Schaefer talks with Jasmine Jackson.
Kevin Schaefer speaks with Jessica Keough about growing up with SMA.
Riley Erbacher, a young artist with SMA Type 2, discusses her journey growing up with spinal muscular atrophy, using art as a vehicle for personal expression and disability advocacy.
Kevin Schaefer talks with Corey Lee about his diagnosis story and the path that led him into accessible travel.
Kevin Schaefer opens the episode with Dr.
Kevin Schaefer returns after a break and opens the show by welcoming Stephanie Malin-Chavez and Sori Rivera, two friends from the SMA community and hosts of Access Granted.
Quinn Bucher, a rising junior at Earlham College in Athens, Ohio, talks with Kevin Schaefer about growing up with type 2 SMA, getting a wheelchair at age 2, and going to a music festival at 9 months old in a wagon.
Kevin Schaefer opens the 2025 episode of the SMA News Today podcast with T.J.
Kevin Schaefer, who has SMA Type 2 and works for SMA News Today, talks with BioNews colleague Anton Perras about digital health marketing, rare disease communities, and their day together at the QRSMA conference in Disneyland.
Kevin Schaefer interviews Brandy Lewis, a blood disorder awareness educator, TEDx speaker, writer, and nonprofit founder from Birmingham, Alabama, about living with aplastic anemia and PNH.
Host Kevin Schaefer interviews Delphine Andrews, a life coach and disability advocate living with SMA, about her background and entrepreneurial journey.
This episode provides news and information about spinal muscular atrophy for patients and caregivers.
Host Kevin Schaefer interviews Janelle Fiesta and Antoine Vuong about their relationship and experiences living with spinal muscular atrophy.
Host Kevin Schaefer interviews Brooklyn Nichols, a young girl with SMA, and her mother Kiana about their lives and Brooklyn's co-authored children's book.
Host Kevin Schaefer interviews Steve and Brittany Bingman about Steve's life with spinal muscular atrophy and their relationship.
Host Kevin Schaefer interviews Gabrielle Runyon, a college student with SMA, about her life and experiences with the condition.
A roundtable discussion among SMA community members about hiring and managing caregivers, sharing personal experiences and tips.
Host Kevin Schaefer interviews Allie Ramos, a licensed social worker with SMA, about her background and living with the condition.
Host Kevin Schaefer interviews columnist Halsey Blocker and her mother Heather about Halsey's transition to adulthood with SMA.
Host Kevin Schaefer discusses a new music video called Spaces created by individuals with SMA, featuring interviews with the performer and artists involved.