Hey Frank,
My 40 year old brother has been living with Duchenes all his life. He has struggled physically and emotionally with it, of course. His condition has been a big pain in his back-end. He'd be the first to tell you that. But to look at this guy, and he would roll his eyes and make a sarcastic remark if he knew I was writing one of those "Isn't he amazing how he copes with his terrible misfortune" letters, he really is an amazing man in his accomplishments. He is a social worker in an ER in a hospital and does Psyc evaluations on the weekend graveyard shift. He's also a great musician and an amazing photographer. He recently turned the kitchen in his apartment into a darkroom. He says he eats carry-out most of the time anyway. He photographs homless folks and eccentric characters with great respect and compassion on the streets of DC. He brings the prints he has made back to the folks and shows them to them, or gives them to them. He brought a print of a Mexican homeless guy back to him and the man was brought to tears. The guy, with my brother's help, sent the prints down to the guy's family in the town he's from. He has a million stories like this one.
Anyway, I feel for your nephew having watched my brother grow up and slowly come to grips with his predicament, but your nephew does have a life ahead of him that will be full of love and challenges and heartbreak and success, just like the rest of us. I think he'll suprise you.
-matt