Christine Kehl O'Hagan

A well-written, poignant story of a very brave woman and her family devastated by generations of young men debilitated by muscular dystrophy.

Christine Kehl O'Hagan discovered a photo of "the boys" hidden in the back portion of a drawer and thus learned her families hidden secret that her mother became an only child when both her brothers died from DMD (Duchenne's muscular dystrophy.)

Her mother married, had two healthy daughters and one son who, in his early years, developed the tell tale signs of DMD. Sadly, at the time her brother Richie was born, there was little research and Jerry Lewis telethons were not a reality.

By the time Christine became pregnant, research indicated that it is the female who is predisposed to pass the faulty gene to male children. Despite this knowledge, Christine and her husband took a risk and became pregnant. Their first son was fine and they gambled one more time when their second son was born. Despite denial, sadly, Christine and her husband had to face the fact that their second son Jamie had DMD.

This heartbreaking, yet hopeful story chronicles the way in which Christine's grandparents, parents, her brother, she, her husband and two sons coped with this terrible muscle wasting disease.

This is an author who can write and express complex emotions. While at times the passages are raw with pain and grief, it is well worth the time spent in reading.

Recommended.… (meer)

This is a sad but courageous story of one family that has been cursed by Muscular Dystrophy for years and years. Christine Kehl O'Hagan's family carried the gene for the disease, which strikes boys only. She had two uncles who died from the disease that she never even knew about, until she found their pictures hidden deep in the back of her Grandmother's closet. Christine's brother, Richie, was struck with the disease when he was very young. Almost as soon as he started walking, they noticed a problem. Richie lived to be 22 years old, when most DMD patients are only given until they are in their teens.
When Christine and her husband Patrick had children, they were blessed with two boys. The eldest, Patrick Jr, and Jamie....Jamie, who had unfortunately been passed the DMD gene. Christine stayed in denial as long as she possibly could, but poor Jamie could not even climb the steps to the school bus. Once they had a confirmed diagnosis, their lives took a dramatic turn.
This gritty, honest memoir was tough to read, but at the same time, very uplifting. Jamie knew that his life would not be long and accomplished so much in the short time that he was here. He passed away at the age of 24.

~"I don't know what I'll do if anything happens to you," I told Jamie some months before he died, a couple of pneumonias into the year. When he'd ask me how long I thought he would live, the same question that my brother had asked all of those years before, I'd simply told him that he wouldn't live to be old, that he shouldn't worry about long but instead, how deep.

"You'll be alright,", he said, staring into my eyes until I looked away, a conversation I remembered about a year later, on a Sunday afternoon, when Patrick called me into the living room to see a football play, and I came out of the bedroom to read him a poem. I hate football. He hates poetry. I don't know why it is that miracles come into our lives wearing toe shoes, yet the disasters show up in construction boots - but Jamie was right. We're alright.… (meer)