Charlestown rallies behind 6-year-old with rare disease

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) – Music can heal, but it can't change what 6-year-old Brody Curtis was born with.

"He has something called epidermolysis bullosa, we call it EB for short," Brody's mother Heather Curtis said. "The type that he has is recessive dystrophic. He's missing the protein collagen seven which binds his skin together."

Any sort of friction against Brody's skin makes it come off or blister. About 80 percent of his body is covered with open wounds.

It costs about $50,000 a month for the treatment.

"It's hard to even fathom what this is about and how it affects his body," Heather Curtis said.

Brody's mother Heather teaches at Charlestown High School. Her former choir director, Cathy Ryan, recently helped her take care of Brody.

"I saw what she has to go through, I saw what he has to go through," Ryan said. "I saw the wall of bandages she has to use and get and the expense and just couldn't not do it."

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Ryan sprang into action and found alumni and anyone willing to sing for a benefit concert to help the Curtis family.

"Charlestown...there's just something about this bunch," Ryan said. "I've said that before, they're wonderful people."

"I think this is pretty special, because there's a few people out there I haven't seen in a really long time that I went to school with or that I knew from school," Heather Curtis said. "They were also teachers when I was here."

The show opened with Brody's favorite song, Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

"Just the thought of...whenever you see a situation like this, it's a good thing to donate," Ryan said.

There is a GoFundMe set up here if you would like to donate to the Curtis family.

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