Mpls. Dance Co. Shows There Are No Boundaries In Ballet

April 4, 2011

Mpls. Dance Co. Shows There Are No Boundaries In Ballet

CBS Minnesota (WCCO) | April 2, 2011 | By Cassie Bonstrom

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — In a small studio in Minneapolis, Leah Nelson is helping her students master a bourrée turn. But really, she’s teaching them much more than ballet moves. She’s teaching the girls, who all use power wheelchairs, that they can be dancers.

“I like to move to the music,” said Mary Kate Bigelow of Rosemount. “It’s always been my dream.

”The girls taking one of the classes at Young Dance have various types of a neuromuscular disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy, or SMA. Their cognitive skills are unaffected, but their muscles are weak and their bodies fragile.

For many of them, it’s their first formal dance class. And while they can’t dance on their feet, they can use their power chairs to do the same moves.

Click HERE or on the image below to read more…

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Swimming with sharks

March 16, 2011

Swimming with sharks

ABC.net.au | March 15, 2011 | By Nathalie Fernbach / Paula Tapiolas

Seven year old Oonoonba student Byron Holman and his mum Meghan spoke with Paula Tapiolas about the Sharkbait Kids program and how swimming makes Byron feel ‘normal’.”

He feels like a normal little boy in the water.” Says Meghan Holman of her son Byron.

“If he could swim everyday he would, he really enjoys it because it is easy on his muscles”.

Seven year old Byron has a rare condition called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) and is one of only four people with the disease in north Queensland.

Click HERE or on the image below to read more…

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Munro keeps ‘Cats ahead in numbers game

March 10, 2011

Munro keeps ‘Cats ahead in numbers game

The Herald-Mail | March 4, 2011 | By Tim Koelble

WILLIAMSPORT — Austin Munro is an important part of the Williamsport boys basketball team.

He just doesn’t wear a uniform.

The 18-year-old senior was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, a neuromuscular disease, at birth. He has been in a wheelchair since he was 2, but that has only kept him from being physically active in sports.

“I really haven’t thought of the disease as a big deal,” Munro said. “It’s never held me back.”

Click HERE or on the image below to read more…

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Tristram keeps rolling with the hits

March 2, 2011

Thank you to Steven Parry for sharing this great, inspiring article with us.

Tristram keeps rolling with the hits

The Courier-Mail | February 5, 2011 | By Mike O’Connor

TRISTRAM Peters was waiting for me in his wheelchair. “It’s for you, to give you an idea what it’s like,” he says, pointing to an empty wheelchair.

“You steer with this,” he instructed, pointing to a joystick on the armrest as I slid awkwardly into the chair.

I pushed the stick forward with my right hand and accelerated across the room, clutching the plastic hockey stick he had just given me in my other hand.

For the next 10 minutes we both whirred across the floor at MontroseAccess – a rambling complex at Corinda which offers therapy and respite for children and young adults with physical disabilities – as Peters schooled me in the art of wheelchair hockey.

Peters is 20 and knows about wheelchairs, having been in one since he was four.

“I’ve got spinal muscular atrophy type 2, which is a form of muscular dystrophy. It was an early progression so I never really walked,” he says.

Click HERE or on the image below to read more…

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Swimming with sharks part of doctor’s orders

March 1, 2011

Swimming with sharks part of doctor’s orders

Townsville Bulletin | March 1, 2011 | By Ryan Matheson

SHARING the water with more than five species of sharks isn’t about to stop brave youngster Byron Holman from enjoying one of his favourite pastimes.

The seven-year-old is set to come face-to-face with more than 50 sharks during a daring dive at Sea World on the Gold Coast as part of the Shark Bait Kids program tomorrow.

Young Byron has spinal muscular atrophy, a rare genetic condition which causes a weak respiratory system and progressive muscle degeneration.

The Oonoonba State School student is easily thrown off balance, restricting his ability to run freely like other kids his age.

He takes part in two hydrotherapy lessons each week providing muscle growth and respiratory benefits.

Click HERE or on the image below to read more…

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Not just a level playing field

January 24, 2011

Not just a level playing field

ABC.net.au | January 24, 2011 | By Tristram Peters

As any of my friends would tell you, I’m addicted to sports. From the spectacle that is the All Blacks performing the haka – a sight I admire even as an ardent Wallabies supporter – to the fervour that erupts each time the Football World Cup comes around, I love it all. Well, except for golf, but that’s beside the point.

It started at a young age with me. I’m told by my dad that I watched the ’91 Rugby World Cup with him when I was one year old. I may have been more interested in sleeping and eating at the time, but I figure that’s where it all began. At a very young age, I had decided that I wanted to play sport for a career – be it rugby union, league, AFL, or football.

But my dreams were dashed by a form of muscular dystrophy; a wonderfully titled condition called Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 2. Essentially, my muscles were slowly becoming weaker, so weak that I was soon confined to an electric wheelchair.

Click HERE or on the image below to read more…

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