Child Prodigy Poet Dies of Muscular Dystrophy

[curtoid]

This kid was my hero (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1896&e=13&u=/nm/people_stepanek_dc)

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20040623/mdf605729.jpg

Very brave, inspirational, and gave support to those around him rather than seeking sympathy or pity.

According to the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62499-2004Jun22.html/?nav=yahoolocal), not only does his mother have an adult form of the disease, but also who lost her three older children to it. Very sad.

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"Don't believe everything you read on message boards." - RB

This message was edited by curtoid on 6-23-04 @ 11:51 AM

[FUNKMAN]

This young man with Dystrophy
Will go down in History

it's a heartbreak to see any child suffer because they are so innocent...

<img src="http://thereisnogod.faithweb.com/images/funkman.gif">

[Tall_James]

According to the Washington Post, not only does his mother have an adult form of the disease, but also who lost her three older children to it. Very sad.

My heart ached when I read that.


<img src=http://home.comcast.net/~jamesgpatton/patton.jpg>
Avoiding household responsibilites...one post at a time
[center]The Best Blog You're Not Reading (http://cheeseeatingbird.blogspot.com)

[UnknownPD]

not only does his mother have an adult form of the disease, but also who lost her three older children to it.

Not to be mean, but at what point do you stop having kids. Four dead kids all with a genetic disease. Might want to take a little responsibility and stop passing on the Death gene

[keithy_19]

So sad.

RIP Buddy.

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<a href="http://keithy19.blogspot.com/" target=_new>My Blog</a>

[HBox]

Not to be mean, but at what point do you stop having kids. Four dead kids all with a genetic disease. Might want to take a little responsibility and stop passing on the Death gene

I guess you completely missed the point of what this kid stood for.

"I am very human. Some people think I am always brave. I try to be, but I cry like the next person sometimes. I am needle phobic and pain phobic, so that doesn't help," he said on the Web site. "But even if I get upset, or think, 'I can't do this anymore,' I get myself together and pray or play or talk with my mom or a close friend, and I get beyond that tough time. I might say, 'Why me?' But then I say, 'Why not me? Better me than a little baby, or a kid who doesn't have strength or support.' "

http://www.myimgs.com/random/hbox/sig

[UnknownPD]

I guess you completely missed the point of what this kid stood for.


Actually I think the kid was an inspiration and accomplished more in his short life than most with a full life span, but I am left to wonder why a mother with a genetic disease would choose to continue to have children. It seems cruel to sentence your kids to a short painful life.

[Cybersoldier]

It sad when any child dies from a disease like this, you would think with all the money in the world and technology we would be closer to a cure to MD. I hope he dies peacefully at least, my heart goes out to his parents.

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Thanks for the sig monsterone

[HBox]

It seems cruel to sentence your kids to a short painful life.

I bet if you asked those kids, they would say they were happy to live. Because the only options are to live as they are, or not even be born. Life is worth living.

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This message was edited by HBox on 6-23-04 @ 2:32 PM

[curtoid]

His official website (http://www.mattieonline.com/)

Was it Chris Rock who years ago had a whole routine about how we haven't actually cured any diseases since Polio, and odds are that was by accident? Whether it is factual or not, basically making the point that, with so much infrastructure surrounding diseases, that it just doesn't seem like we really are doing enough to wipe this shit off the planet.

Not to be mean, but at what point do you stop having kids. Four dead kids all with a genetic disease. Might want to take a little responsibility and stop passing on the Death gene

I agree to a large degree with what HBox said, however I would be interested in finding out exactly how close in age the children were, and when they were all diagnosed, etc., as well as the mother. It may have been, with some of them, something that wasn't diagnosed right away. Odds are that by the time she was pregnant with Matty, she had to have known the risk/chance/odds and made a very tough personal decision.



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"Don't believe everything you read on message boards." - RB


This message was edited by curtoid on 6-27-04 @ 9:33 PM