They never give up, so how could we?

peter 13/10/2017

“We have three little boys. The twins, George and Isaac are 7 and Archie is 11 and a half. In 2012 they were all diagnosed with a rare catastrophic muscle wasting disease which has no known cure or treatment. Last week, Archie wanted to go on a slide at the Pet Farm. It was tall, narrow, metal slide he was on the year before. Then, he could easily run up it and slide down but this time, he quickly realised that he couldn’t do it anymore. I felt terrible for him and I didn’t want to show it, but I think he saw it on my face for a moment. He said: ‘Don’t worry mam, I’ll crawl up!’ So with me standing behind him, he slowly crawled up to the top of the slide, turned around and said: ‘See, I could get up!’ The look on his face was like he was given the Sun, Moon and stars. Although he couldn’t physically walk up on the slide he didn’t give up. He found a way. He found light in the darkness. Although Archie struggles to walk he still plays football every week. He is a goalkeeper because he doesn’t have to run around as much. Sometimes he is on his knees being a goalkeeper but he loves every moment of it. They never give up, so how could we?”

This year Archie is going to run the SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon with the help of the Roscommon Harriers who are going to push him the whole distance in a special running buggy. They will run to raise awareness and funds for research of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and to promote the inclusion of people with special needs in sports.

– After receiving devastating news about her 3 boys, Paula found the strength to fight. This is her story. What’s yours?  

This post was highlighted by SSE Airtricity for the SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon.