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Gary was born with Duchenne Muscular Dystrpohy but was not diagnosed until he was five years old. My suspicions that something was wrong were triggered by watching him try to climb up after he had fallen. The family doctor laughed at my concern. I finally got the courage to demand a second opinion and my fears were confirmed. My son was given a death sentence. I did not view it as such at the time but as the years passed without a cure my nightmares began. Muscular Dystrophy (MD) is a slow deterioration of the muscles and does not necessarily affect the brain. It is sometimes confused with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) because of the similarity in initials.
MS affects the nervous system and MD affects the muscles.
My son was very bright and hated to be thought of as otherwise simply because he was confined to a wheelchair. He one time said to me "I wish people would ask me what's wrong with me instead of assuming I'm retarded just because I can't walk".
The defective gene is passed from the mother to the male offspring. Boys suffer from the disease and girls become carriers. Duchenne MD is one of the worst forms of the disease and is fatal.
Sufferers rarely live beyond their teens. Gary was only 17 when he died on October 23rd 1980.
He was a beautiful, fun loving child with many friends and brought joy to the lives of all who came in contact with him. His quick wit and wonderful sense of humor gave credence to the saying that "It's much worse to be frozen from the neck up than the neck down". He knew more love and happiness in his short span than many people know in a complete lifetime. I know I'm a better person for knowing Gary.
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