Collin Pollock, who has SMA type 3, and his family share how they show up fully for everyday life, from school sports to caregiving, redefining what normal looks like and embracing family, connection, and possibility.
Transcript
Collin: Hi. My name is Collin, and I’m 52 years old. I have SMA type three. Been in a wheelchair for 25 plus years. So, just here with my family.
Kyla: Hi. I’m Kyla. I am Collin’s wife. We have been married for almost 20 years, and I am a full-time worker, full-time mom, full-time caregiver, in my soccer mom era, and just loving life.
Elyana: Hi. I’m Elyana, and I’m their daughter, and I’m 16.
Kyla: Our lives look a little bit different from that of most of our friends and families. We don’t back down from being, quote, unquote, normal family. You know, if there is a soccer game and it’s pouring rain, Collin and I are both out there. He’s covered. And, you know, I think that’s something that really speaks to who Collin is is, he, you know, he volunteers with what he can do. He doesn’t say, like, “Well, I can’t do that.” Like he’ll say, “Well, what can I do? How can I help? Can I, can I create some graphics for you? Can I design the T-shirts for you?”
So he has always just really stepped into, like, being comfortable with not being able to do everything everybody else can, but trying to find out.
And so that in turn has had people like, “Hey can — do you think that Colin could help with this?” Or, “Collin, can you do this for us?” And so he’s really like, stepped into a ton of different like, volunteer staff for her school soccer team and a lot of Elyana’s friends.
I think because, you know, this is who we are and we, you know, we’re, we’re very comfortable with who we are and our family. Like a lot of her friends totally just love Collin and, you know, like me too.
You know, like, they run up and give us both hugs at games and I love that that has become, like, normal and that the chair doesn’t get in the way because they see Collin.
And part of that is because they see Elyana. And Elyana is just a pretty cool and compassionate kid. And like, it’s you know, it’s normal. It’s OK that Collin happens to be sitting down. So, you know, I think that that is something that speaks volumes to who she is and her character.
Elyana: Don’t like, shut yourself down just because you have a disability, and make the best out of it. Because if you’re just sitting there all day, like, thinking nothing about yourself, then it’s you’re, it’s not going to go anywhere. So you can just keep pushing and try for all the things, even though you might not succeed in everything. And just keep going.
Kyla: Have the family, like have the kids, have the family. It’s never the right time. It’s always hard, but absolutely, like, things look a little different, but, like, we love it.
