Genetic disease is ravaging Lancaster County's Amish, and helping to change medicine for all of us

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Morton determined all but one shared GA1 or Glutaric Aciduria, Type 1, an inherited metabolic disorder that leads to a build up of potentially harmful acids in the blood. Unchecked, it can prompt a metabolic stroke that leaves Amish children paralyzed or "locked-in" — able to think and feel, but not to speak or move.

The condition is present in one in 400 Amish births in Lancaster County, and almost non-existent outside of it.

Through the clinic's development of new diagnostic tools and treatments, as well as its groundbreaking use of genetic mapping, Morton was able to zero-out what was once a 93 percent injury rate.

He did the same with Maple Syrup Urine Disease, a recessive and potentially fatal metabolic disorder named for the sweetish odor it lends to bodily fluids like urine and earwax.