My Imprints

By Author: pangsiyan
Total Articles: 130
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Four out of my parents' five children were afflicted from 1 with a rare genetic disorder called osteogenesis imperfecta otherwise known as "brittle bones. " As a result of multiple tures, OI in its extreme form causes dwarf ism, severe deformit the victim's limbs and even death. But our family is among fortunate few as we have a very mild form of the disease.! brother only had about four fractures as a result of OI, while I next oldest sister and myself each had approximately thirty tures. Our eldest sister, however, suffered over one hundred tures in her legs during a sixteen-year period as well as a doz so fractures to her arms and shoulders. Her legs were so fra that once, standing up at the sink to brush her teeth ended fracture. Consequently Debbie was confined to a wheelchair the majority of her childhood.

Debbie is ten years my senior; being the youngest in family, I never knew her outside of her wheelchair as I growing up. Her chair seemed to me to be a natural extension 1 her, and I loved that she would give me rides around our

vhile I carefully sat on her lap. Debbie's cheery disposition and ier ever-present ...
... smile that stretched from ear to ear were her Jrademarks, and they helped us learn at a very young ago to ig-jore the stares that we inevitably got whenever we went any-where with Debbie. I remember hearing comments like, "That >oor little girl, " or "Oh, how sad! " from wellmeaning onlookers, md I would think, Debbie's not poor, and look at her smiling ace— she's not sad. I guess I was confused because we all learned o look beyond the chair to see Debbie our sister, who was usually lappy and funny and nice and who could even play mean little ricks on us— like all good sisters do.

Thinking back today, we all laugh about the time Debbie and ier wheelchair got stuck in the checkout line at our neighborhood irocery store. (Those were the days before many places were wheelchair-accessible. ) The manager had to lift her. out of the hair, place her on the counter, and then fold her chair to get it irough the aisle, while all the curious shoppers stared and whis-iered. Debbie was naturally horrified over her predicament, but ne to herself she just smiled right through it. Perhaps deep down lat experience made her even more determined to walk so she /ould never have to suffer that kind of embarrassment again.

Defying doctors, Debbie set herself a goal before she grad-ated high school. She was determined to walk again. Through trength, hard work, patience and sheer will, Debbie worked to-rard that goal. Finally, her strength and courage paid off. The day rie graduated high school, she led her senior class down the ?ngth of the War Memorial Arena walking every step of the way rith a walker.

From the bleachers we watched through tear-rimmed eyes as er determined four- foot two- inch frame took step after step after ;ep, in time with the music.