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Taylor and Lauren Hendrix attended the Troy City Council’s Tuesday night meeting to personally thank the Troy Fire Department for assisting their family in a time of tragedy.

Taylor Hendrix told councilmembers their son, Graham, was born with a rare genetic disorder called Spinal Muscular Atrophy. He said doctors told the family 98 percent of children born with the disease die before the age of two.

The disease causes a persons muscles to eventually stop functioning. Taylor Hendrix said one night in January, Graham stopped breathing.

“The Troy Fire Department did everything they could do,” Taylor Hendrix said. “Because of that, we had 48 hours to say goodbye to Graham. We’re very thankful to the fire department for that.

“SMA is not something that is on a pre-birth screening. We want to raise awareness about SMA so other families won’t have to go through what we went trough.”

Currently, there is no cure for SMA, but the recent discovery of the genetic cause of SMA has led to several treatment options.

In other business, the Troy City Council:

• approved municipal purchases for the Troy Fire Department through Buyboard

• approved applying for a Federal Aviation grant for work on Runway 0725 at Troy Municipal Airport

• approved the Rebuild Alabama Transportation Plan