Iron Ridge Comes Together to Support One of Their Own

The Iron Ridge community came together on Saturday, Oct. 17 at the Iron Ridge Fire Department to support the Anderson family who has a baby with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).

Beckett Anderson was born on June 25, 2026 to Becca and Scott Anderson. Five days after Beckett was born, his parents got a call from their doctor that their baby tested positive for SMA.

SMA is a genetic disorder in which a gene is missing from a person’s DNA. Over time, this disorder causes neuromuscular breakdowns.

“His muscles break down. And once they break down, there’s no way to ever restore them,” Laura Sellnow, Beckett’s grandmother and Becca’s mother, said.

Historically, this was the number one genetic reason for death in babies. In the last five to ten years, a treatment has changed that. Sellnow explained, “There’s a 95% chance that he could have a relatively normal life, which is just phenomenal.”

The treatment for SMA includes an infusion of the missing gene into the body via a virus. Once the virus carrying the gene enters the immune system, it is added back into the person’s DNA. There is a 95% success rate for this treatment, in the sense that no more deterioration will occur.

Sadly, any muscular deterioration that occurred prior to treatment is unable to be restored. This is why it is important to catch it early and all babies are tested for it at birth.

Generally, babies that test positive for SMA get treated as soon as possible, within a few weeks of their birth. That is not the case for Beckett.

The reason Beckett hasn’t been treated already is because while Becca was pregnant, she got the virus that they use to transport the gene. Beckett was born with antibodies to this virus so the family has to wait for his antibodies to naturally go away. Once the number of antibodies against this virus is low enough in his body, they can do the treatment.

The family is hoping that his numbers will be low enough in November. After he gets the treatment, he will be immunocompromised and must stay at home for eight weeks.

While he waits, he takes daily medication to protect his muscles. If they do get damaged, it can make breathing, walking, standing, eating and even sitting difficult.

Beckett also underwent two unfortunate incidents, unrelated to SMA, in the past. Twenty-one days after he was born, he had an episode of supraventricular tachycardia. His heart rate was racing and wasn’t able to slow down. This led to him staying in the hospital for three days.

At 33 days old, he stopped breathing and his father performed CPR on him until help arrived. After this, he was in the hospital for four days at Children’s Milwaukee. Thankfully he suffered no ill effects due to these incidents.

Becca, who previously worked as a teacher, has been unable to work as she cares for Beckett’s needs. The treatment is expensive, so the Iron Ridge community worked together to raise money for them.

“Something that is very important to us is the community, and it’s just overwhelming to see how everyone has embraced this.” Sellnow continued, “It is very heartwarming to see how generous everyone’s been. Not only with money, but thoughts and prayers and good vibes.”

The family is very connected to the Dodge County Sheriff’s Department, the Iron Ridge Fire Department and Iron Ridge as a whole. Scott works as a deputy with the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office while Becca’s father and brother both work for the Iron Ridge Fire Department.

Six weeks is how long it took to plan for this event, and there were many things to do. There was a bean bag tournament, around 160 raffle baskets, a 50/50 raffle, a bake sale and food and beverages. Every item, both raffle and food, was donated by community members.

“It’s overwhelming to see strangers and people you interact with and family, just everyone and their generosity,” said Sellnow.

The family appreciates all the volunteers and those who donated the items for the raffle, the bake sale and the food.