Our oldest son, now almost 10 years old, has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. It was quite a shocking diagnosis, almost 4 years ago. Mainly the idea of the progressive course bothered us. That was also the big difference with hearing right after the birth of our second son 3 years earlier that he had Down Syndrome.
But it did bring to our minds that we had so much plans and good intentions, and suddenly we seemed to have so much less time to make these come alive. So we decided not to postpone any of the far-away plans that we had. While he was still mobile. And we didn’t and it turned out so much fun, and it told us that we should have done this anyhow, even in the absence of that terrible menace of DMD hanging over us. We maximize within our son’s capabilities.
Although Duchenne is progressive, there is no predicting what will happen or when. But, think about it, this is the case for life in general. The only difference is that in our case it has been made more clear to us.
A sad story to illustrate my point is that a month ago we received message that a boy, almost the age of our oldest son, died after being hit with his bike by a car. Gone were his parents’ plans and good intentions. Let’s hope they have maximized the time they had, got the maximum out of the time with their son and brother. Even knowing that this will not take away the pain, the loss and the grief.
Let the uncertainty of life not be a depressing influence. Let it drive you in outperforming those demons, in living life to the maximum. Live the art of the possible!
