There's always hope.

• Position: Medicine & Health

THE AIM OF the exhibition "Expression of Hope" is to honor each person living with a lysosomal storage disorder (LSD) and provide creative perspectives that inspire new ideas and renewed energy in fighting genetic disease. Numerous patient organizations from around the world encouraged their members to submit images that share their feelings of hope and explore the realities, perceptions, and experiences of living with an LSD. Building on the concept from the "... therefore I am" program launched by the German MPS (Mucopolysaccharidosis) Society, the exhibit explores some of the differences and similarities between how someone living with an LSD views the world and how the world may view the person.

Lysosomal storage disorders are a group of roughly 50 genetic (inherited) diseases, sharing common clinical and biochemical characteristics. People with LSDs either are lacking, or in short supply of, particular enzymes that are found in the lysosome (a compartment of the cell) that contains various digestive enzymes as well as acidic materials. Because of this, molecules that are meant to be broken down by the missing enzymes build up within the lysosome and can prevent the cell from working properly. Most LSDs are progressive and life threatening.

In partnership with the National Gaucher Foundation, an additional three pieces of art by Ted Meyer, including a scar mono-print, will be on display with "Expression of Hope" at the National Museum of Health and Medicine. Meyer's previous exhibition at the museum, "Scarred for Life," featured 36 mono-prints of scars, accentuated with gouache (opaque watercolor paint) and color pencil. Meyer feels that a scar is not just a marker of a disability, but rather part of what makes someone physically and emotionally unique. "Scars can mark entering into or out of a disability, going from cancer to health, from limited mobility to full movement. They freeze a moment in time, a car accident or gun shot."

Born in New Rochelle, N.Y., Meyer frequently was in the hospital as a child due to Gaucher disease, a rare genetic disorder that causes pain and deterioration of the joints and organs. Gaucher disease is one of the approximately 50 LSDs. According to the National Gaucher Foundation, to date, more than 200 genetic mutations known to cause Gaucher have been identified. Gaucher is pan-ethnic; the incidence rate is relatively high (as many as one in 450 people) in the Ashkenazi Jewish population (Central...