>Hello Everyone,
> I thought all of you would be interested in this story I received
>from Nancy. It is awe inspiring to think of all the odds this lady has
>endured and what she has accomplished despite them all. She is teaching
full
>time in middle school for special ed. kids., I think that is special enough
>in itself. In a previous e-mail from her, she admitted she was considering
>"unsubscribing" to the list, because she felt she wasn't accepted due to
her
>prior posts. Shame on us. I asked her to stick around for awhile longer
and
>give us another chance. I also asked her to share her story of TM with the
>list. Here it is:
>
>Thanks for the note of encouragement. You don't know how scared I was
about
>getting that flu shot last fall. You were wondering my history. Well,
here
>goes. In 1961, I was born with congenitally dislocated hips, feet bent
>backwards towards my shin, clubfeet, and a heart murmur. Well, Mom took me
>and loved me warts and all. As an infant I suffered seizures and
>encephalitis. When I was around 11 months old I received smallpox and flu
>shots within around 3 weeks apart. Next thing Mom knew I was paralyzed
from
>the chest down, grunting (not crying). I was dxed with Guilianne-Barre
>syndrome -- only to find out recently I was misdiagnosed and really had
Acute
>Transverse Myelitis. I was on digoxin for heart problems (racing heart)
and
>Trancopal for the spasticity. I regained manual dexterity and arm strength
>first. (Doctor is supposed to have laughed watching me pick up pennies
during
>one demonstration.) As a child I dragged myself around on my belly until
my
>toes were carpet burned and bloody. I was three before I walked at all.
My
>feelings have returned throughout the years, but spasticity has remained.
>Have gone from knee-braces to Canadian crutches to finally a wheelchair by
>age 15. I have a power wheelchair for work and outside the home,and my
>trusty teal-blue Ride-Lite 9000 for home use. The doctors were going to
>replace my hips at 18, but they didn't think I'd live till then. Am very
>overweight (over 300 lbs.), have help caring for me once I'm at home for
the
>evenings and manage to teach school full time (middle school special ed.).
>After all this, I thank God for his blessings and realize I'm in good shape
>for the shape I'm in (pear that it is ;-) ) There are people in a lot
worse
>shape, even within keystroke. I plan to learn to drive my new '98 Windstar
>IMS-converted Rampvan this summer. Yay!! Keep me in your prayers, Kris.
(I
>hope I didn't bore you too much with the details, but you wanted a
background
>story, and this is pretty much my story. If you think anyone's interested
>you can post this.)
>
>P.S. I recently asked for help/encouragement in my pursuit to shed this
>excess poundage on the list, but I think that post turned everybody off.
No
>replies, not a "you go girl!", or even a "shut up and go away". It's
awfully
>hard to exercise when the more you exercise the more your muscles spaz up,
>and I don't think I'm quite ready for the baclofen pump. I'll continue
mine
>orally for a while, thanks. :-)
>