He’s come to terms with muscular dystrophy

“I used to be a national sales manager for dehumidification. We dried out large commercial buildings in the U.S. and all over the world. I had to resign because of medical issues: muscular dystrophy.

“It’s a genetic family thing. We have a particular type of it. It hit my grandfather, my mother, my uncles and my brother. I knew my whole life that it was coming. It just came on to me faster than everybody else.

“It started about five years ago with shudders and shakes. I can’t walk well. I have equilibrium issues. I’m in constant pain, in my legs, my feet, and occasionally my arms. Medication helps with the pain. But there’s no stopping it. It’s a progressive disease. Most of my relatives who’ve had it ended up in wheelchairs.

“I have good days and bad days. The other week, I was down for five days. I wasn’t able to get out of bed. I couldn’t walk. My equilibrium was off. I was getting violently ill, which is one of the symptoms. And I never know when it’s coming. It just happens.

“I used to be an avid boater. I can’t do that anymore because I can’t maneuver. I haven’t boated in over two years.

“I was never angry about it. I guess frustrated might be a better word. Once I got an understanding of it — this is what I can do, this is what I can’t do — then I came to accept it.

“There’s nothing you can do about it. If you get cancer, you can go get treatment. But there is no treatment for this. As medicine progresses, maybe there will be a cure one day. I’m 54. I don’t think it’s going to happen in my lifetime.”

— Mike McPhilliamy