Columns

If it’s not my mom rocking out to “The Final Countdown” by Europe, it’s my dad reminiscing about all the cartoons we used to watch. Shows like “Arthur” and “Dragon Tales” were mainstays in the Albers household. But my favorite was “Cyberchase,” an after-school program about a bunch of kids…

“OK, SMA. You win,” I thought after signing off from a virtual meeting. I didn’t know how it was possible to feel so defeated yet relieved about finding a solution for one of my recent health woes. But there I was, staring up at my ceiling and arguing with…

I know I talk a big game when it comes to advocacy and setting goals for myself. The great results I achieve may lead some people to think that my efforts are effortless, but of course they never are. Surprisingly, though, some things in my life with SMA…

As I tallied the sea of tiny numbers on my tax spreadsheets, I decided to search for some background music on my computer. I love my computer — a gift from my generous family in 2020 — but it doesn’t have a CD drive. Almost all of the music I’d…

A common tendency among women and girls is to feel like we’re not enough. This insecurity is threaded throughout the media we consume. Netflix’s “One Day at a Time,” a sitcom featuring three generations of Cuban American women, comes to mind, as does the 2004 high school film “Mean…

“A hero — not the hero we deserved, but the hero we needed.” This line from a Batman movie aptly describes the life and legacy of Judy Heumann. The prominent disability rights activist, who died March 4 at the age of 75, remains a hero in every…

If there’s one thing my dad and I can agree on, it’s that mornings are the worst. My mom, on the other hand, is a veritable morning person. She wakes up energized and ready to conquer the world. By the time I drag my sorry butt out of bed,…

I still remember exactly what I was doing when news broke that Evrysdi (risdiplam) had been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in August 2020. Up until that point, it had been a pretty ordinary day. It took only a moment to become so…

Among the many SMA symptoms I live with every day, fatigue has permanently staked out its territory at the top of the list. I am perpetually tired. There are days when my fatigue gets the best of me, but more often than not, I’ve learned to live with it.

Hello, March! Here in the North Carolina mountains, daffodils optimistically poke through the ground; impatient ones bloomed last week. Trees are budding, and flower beds are sporting a bit of green. Forager bees are gathering pollen for the baby bees. With all this popping up and out, you’d think winter…