Nathan Rothe, 22, is a classically trained opera singer. Yuva Gambhir, 23, works as a party DJ. And 33-year-old Ryan Schmidt, aka “Wheelz the Rapper,” is a talented rap artist.
Aside from their interest in music, these three young men have another thing in common: They all have Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
“It’s so amazing what humans are capable of, overcoming all adversity. We haven’t let this disease stop us from doing anything,” said Hawken Miller, who recently joined his fellow DMD patients onstage to moderate a discussion at the 2025 CureDuchenne Futures Conference in San Antonio, Texas.
In fact, Rothe’s live performance of a German opera was among the high points of the three-day event, which was attended by more than 700 people.
A passion for opera
Fascinated by music since the age of 4, Rothe was diagnosed at 5 and last year graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, about an hour and a half north of San Antonio.
“When I was little, I’d go through all the music on my computer and soon started taking voice lessons. I really loved choir and wanted to keep doing it all my life,” he said in an interview.
During his time at UT-Austin, he happened to see a performance of “Carmen” and immediately decided to try opera. He eventually learned to sing in German, as well as French and Italian. Yet Rothe’s Duchenne limits his ability to hit higher notes.
“I don’t have the best diaphragm, but if I had better treatments, my lungs would be stronger,” he said. “It’s just a matter of figuring out how to keep using my voice.”
Among Rothe’s favorite operas is Mozart’s 1791 masterpiece, “The Magic Flute.” Last summer, he performed a lead role at the prestigious Austrian American Mozart Academy in Salzburg.
Rothe, who has an exon 52 deletion, takes givinostat (Duvyzat) — a nonsteroidal drug approved to treat patients with all genetic variants of DMD.
“I’m trying to find some gigs at churches around town and auditioning for some operas, but it’s hard because not all places are accessible,” he said. “In college, I learned how to advocate for myself when it came to bathroom ramps, automatic doors — everything you could think of related to somebody in a wheelchair.”
Raising awareness through rap music
Schmidt — who like Rothe, is also from Austin — said he’s always been drawn to the music world.
“I remember when I was 7 years old, I was in my mom’s car listening to the radio,” he recalled. “I heard rap and said to myself, ‘this is it.’ I started listening to Dr. Dre, Eminem and Drake. Eventually I got into it and started writing music myself. It just felt good, and I got better with time. I thought, ‘If they can do it, I can do it too.’”
Over time, Schmidt lost his ability to do many things, including play video games. Even so, he says he’s “positive, determined and willing to go out and do my best every day.”
For the past 14 years, Schmidt’s small nonprofit, Inspiration on Wheelz, has hosted an annual “Ryan’s Day” concert with his family in suburban Austin to raise awareness and funds for DMD research. Schmidt has already released five CDs; his latest is titled “Music Saved My Life.”
“My disability gets in the way, but that’s not an excuse,” he said. “I’m dealing with something, but so is everyone else in this room.”
Music as emotional release
“I’ve been into electronic dance music for as long as I can remember,” said Gambhir, whose parents emigrated from India. “When I was 2, we did a video of me dancing to hard-core techno with my dad. As I got older and my disability started to progress, electronic music became kind of an escape. I had all this pent-up energy, but I couldn’t play sports. So listening to this music gave me a release.”
In college, Gambhir studied cognitive science, and since then he’s gotten DJ gigs at various parties and lounges in Philadelphia. Yet he now uses a wheelchair full-time, making it hard to access clubs and even electronic house music festivals.
“For a long time, DJing was a physical sport that involved jumping around and using a big turntable. But now there are wheelchairs that allow you to stand upright and increase your elevation. We’re even on the precipice of bigger things like exoskeletons. The technology is now here for us to be able to interact, just as a professional DJ would.”
Eventually, he said, Gambhir wants to produce his own electronic music.
“I see how all the components really resonate with people. There’s actually a science to how the underlying rhythms attune with our nervous system. That’s what gives you that ethereal feeling when you close your eyes and connect to music — whether it’s opera, rap or electronic dance music,” he said. “I also really like how there’s not a lot of vocals in electronic music. That allows me to create my own story in my head and feel that moment of adrenaline-fueled motivation.”
Like Schmidt, Gambhir’s family has long been involved in DMD fundraising. Their next event, Blingo 2025, is set for Oct. 18 and marks the fundraiser’s 10th anniversary.
Gambhir was born with deletions of exons 46 and 47. In December 2024, he received the new gene therapy delandistrogene moxeparvovec-rokl (Elevidys). He also takes an antisense oligonucleotide, casimersen (Amondys 45), in the form of a once-a-week infusion.
Gambhir said that since his gene therapy treatment, he’s noticed some improvement.
“I haven’t lost any strength, and there are times where I feel I have more core strength. It’s hard to know whether that’s statistically significant or not, but I can feel some slight improvement,” he said.
“My caregivers and parents notice when transferring me that I’m able to sit up and stabilize. Also, I have more energy throughout the day, and I don’t feel tired and sore as much. I’m very hopeful that I can maintain strength with this — at least until the next drug comes out.”
Sign up here to get the latest news, perspectives, and information about DMD sent directly to your inbox. Registration is free and only takes a minute.
