A 32 year old female wheelchair bound patient of mine who has a rare condition of spinal muscular atrophy which has paralyzed both her legs to the extend that she can stand with assistance no more than a minute now. When I arrived at her house I see a handsome 3 year old son and a cute chubby 8 month old daughter. This condition has a 25% chance of manifesting in a person if both mother and father are a carrier. Both her kids are normal for now and she being a staunch christian prays to god that none of her kids gets the disease. She met her husband in college of natural medicine. Having like interests both fell in love and got married. Patient was walking with help of walker for short distance then, however main struggle started when she got pregnant. Although they were ecstatic that they were going to have a baby, she did not want to harm baby in any way so she stopped walking as she did not want to fall. pregnancy went well and they were blessed with a beautiful baby boy. They wanted to have one more kid and soon after the older one turned 2 they planned for another one. God blessed them with a sweet little angel. Along with 2 kids came responsibilities. Patient got busy in taking care of kids and did not get to spend time to take care of herself. She stopped walking altogether. Now that her daughter is 8 months old her only concern is that she will start rolling soon and she may not be able to save her from rolling off bed. She is not keeping her on floor till evening as she can't pick her up and put her back to bed. Never thought that these kind of simple things can hold such high importance to some of them. Patient has started walking now with walker once therapy started. The 2nd day she walked from front door of the house till bedroom and back. It took a while but she did it. Her son was so so amazed to see her mom walk. He said' Mommy you are doing an awesome job'... My patient was thrilled listening this. She responded ' Oh that is the best motivation I can have. I will walk everyday if that makes you so happy'. My day was made just listening to those 2 sentences. Small things in life can bring such great pleasures!
