Charcot Marie Tooth Disease Research Paper

magine yourself getting reading for school in the morning and all the tasks that go into preparing yourself for the day ahead of you. You take a shower, fix your hair, maybe do your makeup, brush your teeth, put your school materials in your backpack, and slip your shoes on and head out the door. What do all of these tasks have in common? All of these everyday activities involve holding onto things and moving from one point to another. Now, imagine that you have Charcot Marie Tooth disease, a form of muscular dystrophy that causes muscle degeneration in the arms and legs along along with perpetual, shooting nerve pain. Your everyday morning routine has just become ten times harder than it was before. Now you have to watch your feet, making …show more content…
I know the frustrations of living with a visible disease, having to rely on leg braces and wheelchairs for parts of my life. I can remember how alienating it feels to look different than everyone else around you, and how other can make you feel even more distant from anyone else. In six grade when I was first diagnosed with Charcot Marie Tooth, I had to wear casts on my lower legs for a month, each week, I would have a new cast molded, and each week I would have my achilles tendon gradually stretched, ultimately reaching about a ninety degrees able. After this, I was molded for leg braces, called AFO’s (Ankle-Foot Orthosis), and could finally walk “heel-toe” instead of only walking with my toes hitting the floor. Even though I had bright blue tie dye leg braces and large bulky tennis shoes, I felt normal because I could walk like all of my friends. It wasn’t until I went to a friends party at the YMCA that I learned that people didn’t see me as I saw myself. At the YMCA, there were a other parties going on at the same time my friend Emily had hers. The Y had a room upstairs where kids could dance, there was even a DJ and bright neon lights flashing back at us. While upstairs, I was dancing with all of my friends when I heard a boy a few yards behind me say “Look at that cripple trying to dance!” At first, I did not register that the boy was referencing me dancing with my friends, but …show more content…
At first, I would only research what would happen to my body as I get older. Later on, I because to research the “why’s” and “how’s” of my disease. Why? Why do certain processes in my cells not work? How? How does this even happen, and why is it so hard to find out what will happen to me? I became engrossed in the network of neurons. I am now so fascinated with everything neuroscience, when I am unable to find something through a simple google search, I request my college library access to a a medical journal that has what I am looking for. This infatuation with neuroscience has lead me to pursue it as a degree. I want to learn all I can about this subject matter as well as learn with scientists as they form new hypotheses and discover new things relating to neurology. Most importantly, with this degree, I would like to be a Pediatric Neurologist. My dream is to help kids who are suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. What I have learned with having this disease is that most doctors in this field are unable to empathize. It isn’t their fault, if they don’t have a form of it or is very close with someone who is, how can they truly know what it is like to endure a disease similar to their patients? I want my patients to know that I will do everything I can to have a fulfilling life, as my pediatric neurologists have done for