Columns

The revelation that my husband, Randy, and I were becoming newborn parents again called for a comprehensive to-do list. Our other children, Matthew and Katie, were in elementary school. With no intention of needing baby items again, we’d kept nothing. Katie, then 7, ecstatically helped me rectify that dilemma,…

When the movie version of “Wicked” hit theaters last fall and skyrocketed to critical and commercial success, musical theater enthusiasts everywhere felt validation. The blockbuster adaptation of the hit musical struck a chord with devoted fans, casual viewers, and anyone with a passing familiarity with “The Wizard of Oz” mythos.

When I backed off my van’s wheelchair lift, I didn’t find what I expected to. We had just parked at a restaurant we’d never been to in a different town, and I knew there would be a ramp onto the sidewalk to my left. I just didn’t think it would…

A few weeks ago, my mother injured her foot, temporarily limiting her mobility. As she struggled to get around, relying on others for assistance, she looked at me and said, “I never realized how hard this is.” That moment stuck with me — not because I was surprised, but because…

In September 1995, my parents began running the family’s newly acquired lodge on the stunning Blue Ridge Parkway. My husband, Randy, our two children, Matthew and Katie, and I lived about an hour away at the time. I drove up every day to help with lodge business. As the parkway’s…

First in a series.  “All right, I have to go. Bye, Sherry,” my then-new pain specialist said. “I hope I won’t see you for a few months.” That was a few days after he’d administered a caudal epidural nerve block for my chronic neuropathic pain, almost a month after…

It was another appointment in an appointment-packed January. My hopes weren’t particularly high, but no one will ever accuse me of being a less-than-perfect patient, so I braved the cold bite of the new year. I was seeing an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialist based out of…

I didn’t expect to find myself participating in a Valentine’s Day card exchange as an adult. I thought such festivities were (sadly) reserved for kids. But then a friend shared a Facebook post last year inviting people to join a card exchange for anyone with SMA and their…

My husband, Randy, and I moved our family to the North Carolina mountains in the final hours of 1995. Adventures in our old farmhouse commenced immediately. We considered a newsworthy blizzard and the escape of two flying squirrels from the wall into the dining room ample excitement for a long…

Last month, the biotechnology company Scholar Rock submitted an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requesting approval of an experimental add-on therapy to treat spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). The investigational drug apitegromab is intended to target a protein in the bloodstream that inhibits muscle growth with the…