Hello everyone, I am Stephen Rysen and I am a 31-year-old living with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and a huge supporter of first responders. I got diagnosed at the age of five. The symptoms that caused concern was that I had problems climbing out of boxes if I sat in one, walking, climbing stairs and inability to ride a bicycle. I needed steroids, ankle foot orthotics, leg braces for standing and eventually a wheelchair. I stopped walking around the age of nine and eventually at the age of 11 with leg braces although those were meant for standing. I also had to get back surgery because of scoliosis which was pretty bad because I had a L-shaped spinal cord. My feet were operated on to allow me to wear shoes without wearing ankle foot orthotics. I have had 2 power wheelchairs and I am in my third power wheelchair. I have lived on heart medication since 2000. I was on the medication because there was deterioration in the heart. Luckily the pills I am taking decreased the deterioration by 50% and because of my aggressive doctor. I have been on the BiPAP machine for ventilation since 2003 for sleeping or lying in bed. Since 2011 I have a daytime ventilator that I am using right now. I have had no deterioration of my lungs because of respirators and ventilators. I also do breathing exercises by getting pumped up by a medical bag to give me a stacked breath to breathe out a big volume of air or cough out and I also do it without the medical bag the caregivers use by inhaling small breaths to give me a bigger breath just like the medical bag. I can also do it with the machines too. It is pretty tough but I got positive mental toughness. But 2007 I got some devastating news, lost a close friend with the same condition I have. It was still bugging me until I had the idea to increase awareness and build rapport with firefighters by visiting them while they were fundraising for Muscular Dystrophy. It boosted morale, the firefighters said it's good to see people in wheelchairs out in the community and it provided me a chance to recover from the tragedy. One firefighter gave me back my positive mental toughness that I lost from the tragedy. The firefighter said that I looked healthy aside from having the disability, said we are here for you, we are not giving up and we are happy to help. The tradition of firefighters helping people with muscular dystrophy is a great partnership that has provided strength for people fighting muscular dystrophy. It is kind of like saving a life as a firefighter. Firefighting is a tough job but fundraising for muscular dystrophy can help deal with the stresses firefighting deals with by giving positive energy to deal with tough situations. I also support firefighters through social media and have also garnered support from firefighters from Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Ontario, Western Canada and Georgia and other places in North America. My parents were in law enforcement and are pretty fortunate that their fellow first responders from the fire department have been helping people with muscular dystrophy for 60 years. Thank you for reading this story and if you would like to donate please visit this page http://muscle.akaraisin.com/Pledge/Participant/Home.aspx?seid=8347&pid=1653575&mid=9
