“What One Thing or Person Has Had the Most Influence on Your Life and Why?”  by Sean Locke

“Born a normal child, but the dream didn’t last long.  Would you hold him down, my God why does he hang on?  Someone do something, don’t turn in disgust.  Look him in the eyes….”  - Dispatch, Born Normal

She was born a normal child, but like the quote says the dream, it didn’t last long.  She was fourteen when she was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy (MD) in the 70s.  Back then they didn’t know anything about the disease, there was no cure, nor treatment.  While today they know a lot more about it there still is no cure, nor treatment.  MD is a degenerative disease and she’s lived with it for 28 years.  The first twelve she spent walking; the last sixteen she spent in a wheelchair.  I have watched her day by day, since I was born, slowly progress from a free, independent person who used her wheelchair as a tool to make her life simpler, to a person who now without a wheelchair would be unable to go anywhere.  She cannot even get out of bed in the morning any more without assistance.

She used to play field hockey and softball, a testament to her wild and aggressive personality.  When she graduated high school she spent time in college studying accounting, but after a couple of years decided, starting a family was her first priority.  She married and divorced twice, having only one child.  It was the need to better care for that one child that caused her to get a wheelchair.  It changed her from an aggressive and often physical person into a caring and gentle mother, my mother.

She is the only member of my immediate family that I have, and I love her more than anything I know, as much as she loves me.  From her I have derived and learned so many of my excellent qualities.  From watching her struggle through her life I have learned to appreciate the life that I have, and the fact that I am much more privileged than some are.  From reviewing how she lived her life I have learned that to become truly happy it is not necessary to acquire the most money, or have the nicest things, one need only follow one’s heart because only it can take you to a place where you will be truly happy. 

By living with my mother and always having been taken to functions that her office puts on – she works for an organization that promotes independence among people with disabilities – I have learned to become blind to the differences that often separate groups of people.  From her support of and pride in anything I do she has helped me achieve wisdom, and to be more outgoing than I used to be when I was younger.  By watching her deal with her disease and still come through each day stronger than the day before I have discovered my inner strength, and realized that there is no problem I cannot overcome.  Living with her there are days where I feel myself wondering, “Why does she hold on?”  I know now the answer, but it still doesn’t stop me from wondering.  The answer is that she has me to live for.

She is my mother, she is my strength, and I credit her for making me the person I have become.