Greetings and Salutations

[Guest guest]

'Sup everybody! The name's Mike, I'm new to this group. I've

kind of been lurking around and reading, just trying to get a feel for

what I was getting myself into, and I've decided an introduction was

in order. It seems you all are great people, and I look forward to

getting to know you all better.

As I said my name is Mike, and I'm a fellow SMA guy. I have type II,

and was diagnosed about 21 years ago somewhere around 6 months of age.

My older sister, , is 24, that's three years older than me for

those not so good at math, and was diagnosed with SMA II at about age

1. I also have a younger brother, , 20, who doesn't have any

clinical disabilities, although he's does have a severe case of

laziness. My parents, Jim and , are wonderful people, who have

sacrificed a ton to raise three children, two with severe

disabilities, although they would never look at it that way.

Talking about my family reminds of something. I want to give a quick,

but sincere, thank you to all of you parents/friends of people with

SMA out there. Those of us affected by this disease depend on you so

much, and although we don't necessarily always show it, we appreciate

it and love you more than you could ever know! Sorry for that mushy

interlude, I just wanted to make sure everyone knows that.

Now that you all know about my family, I can tell you all a little bit

about the rest of my life. Currently I attend the University of

Wisconsin - Whitewater, and am in my fourth year pursuing a B.S. in

Management Computer Systems (basically computer programming). I'm

living on my own in an apartment, that is without any ABs (able-bodies

if you don't understand my lingo) and have been doing so for almost a

year now. I have two roommates, both have different forms of MD sd

well. One has SMA II, of whom you all should know as she also just

recently joined this group. You should know her as O or

sweetleo03. The other is Matt, who has Duchenne.

I've written entirely too much about myself, so I'm going to stop

before you all think I'm full of it. (to : no comments!) If

you want to know anything else about me though feel free to ask. I'd

be happy to share experiences about anything.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to speaking with all of you more!