If I didn’t have Muscular Dystrophy, I would have never been able to meet the MythBusters. Muscular Dystrophy is a group of genetic disorders that causes muscle deterioration. I was able to meet them because the nurse at my elementary school got us in touch with the Make a Wish Foundation so that they could grant my wish. Muscular Dystrophy changed my life, and there are so many things that I wouldn’t have been able to see or do without it.
It was the summer after the fourth grade, and we had just gotten back from Florida for my brother’s wish. We had only been home for a week and we were leaving again, at 5 o’clock in the morning, in a limo to the airport. Even on the plane to San Francisco, I could tell we were getting special treatment. The flight attendants kept coming around, asking us if we needed anything, giving us blankets. The view that I was able to get of the desert as the sun rose, was breathtaking. We were all dressed up in Kansas gear, shorts and t-shirts, but we should’ve worn better clothes. It was about 90 degrees in Kansas, but when we got to San Francisco it was about 60 degrees. When we got off the plane, we felt a blast of cold air because the temperature was so much cooler than in Kansas. There was a van waiting for us once we got our bags. The van took us to our hotel and once we got all our things in the room we went exploring.
The first thing we did was go down to the wharf and go on a tour of San Francisco Bay. It was freezing out on the bay because none of us changed our clothes when we got to the hotel. We got to see Alcatraz and once we went under the Golden Gate Bridge, the water became a little choppy and we had to turn around. That was when we decided to go find something to eat and put the day to bed. On the second day, we went to the California Academy of Sciences, which I have to say was really cool. We had to take the subway to get there and I was a little nervous because I had never ridden on one before. I thought the neatest part of the museum was the roof that was made of grass. After we left, we were looking for a place to eat, and we found the best Irish pub. We thought it was so good because they didn’t have a traditional kids menu, chicken strips and the like. Later that day, we went down to Ghirardelli Square and got the best ice cream sundaes ever. After that we went back to the hotel and all went to bed.
After we explored for those two days, my wish day was finally upon us. We had to get up earlier than we usually do, and I had to wear the shirt that the Make a Wish Foundation had given us. There were multiple people there so we had to wait for all of them to show up. When it was finally time to go, we all climbed onto a charter bus and we were off. It was cloudy by the hotel but as we left the city proper, the clouds had burned off. We were finally at their studio, M5 Industries and I was so excited. I was hoping that Adam and Jamie would be just like they are on the show. Then we started to get us off the bus. My brother and I were the last ones to get off. When we got inside, there were stairs and we couldn’t bring our wheelchairs, so we walked up the stairs with help. There was pizza there to eat, but I wasn’t there for that. I was there to meet the MythBusters. They showed us around the warehouse that they shoot the show, which was awesome. We were right up by Adam and Jamie the whole time, and they explained the shop and all the things that they had done. When we left, I still couldn’t believe that we got to meet them. It was awesome to go there and to meet all the people from one of my favorite shows of all time.
That was one of the good things to come of having Muscular Dystrophy, but believe me it sucks, a lot. There are a lot of things that I was surprised that I didn’t see before. I was stunned by the amount of people that use handicapped parking spots who don’t need handicapped tags or don’t have any and use them anyway. You would be surprised the amount of looks that I get from people because the first thing that people think is that because I am in a wheelchair, I am mentally impaired. If I didn’t have Muscular Dystrophy, I would never be able to go to MDA camp, which is the only time I can be around other people with Muscular Dystrophy.
Muscular Dystrophy can be a blessing and a curse, mostly a curse. If I didn’t have it though, I wouldn’t be the person that I am today. I don’t think about what I would be like if I didn’t have muscular dystrophy, because that is not who I am. I have been changed by Muscular Dystrophy, and there are things that I am glad that I can see, and I would be upset if I wasn’t able to see those things.
