Town of Babylon Supervisor Rich Schaffer, Deputy Supervisor Tony Martinez and Councilmen Anthony Manetta and Terry McSweeney recently recognized Dr. Beverly L. Boyarsky, a partner of Myositis Awareness Month and North Babylon living with a form of the disease. Dr. Boyarsky was presented with an official Town of Babylon Proclamation that designates the month of May as Myositis Awareness Month in the town. Receiver of Taxes Corinne DiSomma and Town Clerk Gerry Compitello were also on-hand for the presentation.
According to Dr. Boyarsky, Myositis (Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathy), which includes dermatomyositis, polymyositis, inclusion body myositis, juvenile myositis, and necrotizing myopathy, is a class of rare, autoimmune muscle and skin diseases that may also affect the lungs and other organs. Myositis is a complicated disease that can be completely disabling. Myositis strikes both children and adults, women and men, and has no cure and limited-to-no effective therapies.
As a rare disease, the average time to a correct myositis diagnosis is about 3.5 years. There are approximately 50K people living with myositis in the U.S.
Myositis can cause complete and total disability. Treatments for one form, inclusion body myositis, are non-existent at this time, and for other forms, therapies consist of limited, off-use medications commonly used for other autoimmune diseases.
Photo (left to right): Tony Martinez, Anthony Manetta, Gerry Compitello, Rich Schaffer, Beverly Boyarsky, Corinne DiSomma, Terry McSweeney.