MEETING SOMEONE W/FA!!! [edited]

A couple of months after my surgery MDA set up another clinic visit for me during the time that another girl with FA was going to be there. This was not a surprise to me, and I was very nervous. I was thinking, Is she going to act like me? Is she going to talk like me? Is she going to walk like me? All I knew was that she was my age (15) and had FA. When my mom and I first arrived at the clinic we saw someone in the waiting room, but we were not sure if it was the girl I was suppose to meet. The girl was in a wheelchair, and I didn't think that was her. So we just sat and waited for David D. (patient service coordinator for MDA) to introduce us. He came, and then we all met. It was her. Her name was Bobby Jo, and we were both not very talkative to one another at that time. I did not mean to, but I did stare at her. In my mind I was trying to answer those questions I had been thinking about. My mom was full of questions for her Dad. I could not get over the fact that she was in a wheelchair already. I did not really realize that there was different onsets, and that everyone is different in the way that their symptoms react. I felt because we were the same age we would be on the same page as far as our FA goes. Her diagnosis was several years before mine and she had quit walking at the age of 11. Even though we were in different progression stages of FA we were the same. I was not alone, and had someone I could relate to for the first time in my life. Because of that we had an instant bond. We lived in different towns, and knew we wouldn’t get to see each other often. We ended up exchanging home addy’s (no email yet), and became a gossiping duo! I saw her every summer at Camp from that point on until we were 21. That following winter Bobby Jo passed away. I was sad to lose a friend, and even though her passing was not due directly to FA (it was a bad case of pneumonia I think) it made me wonder. But I know I have to keep going and going strong for everything happens for a reason.

Thanks for taking the time to read, Miss S