*Note: This article was written for Laura's school newspaper and is expected to be published September 2002.

Have you ever been excited and scared at the same time?

Have you ever wanted to say something and you didn’t know how too?

Have you ever been afraid to ask a question?

Have you ever been afraid to answer?

My name is Laura Jacquin and I’m a freshman at Longmeadow High School.   I’m sure you have noticed me, but even if you don’t have any idea who I am that’s okay because I bet most of you don’t know who I am at all. I’m that girl you see.  That girl who walks different than everyone else.  That girl that you wonder about.  Now I bet you’re sitting there asking yourself what is this girl doing and why does she have her own article?  Well…I know the editor! Really though, I think this is the most important thing I have ever written in my life!  But you know what? It’s the hardest thing I have ever written too. This is a major topic and I think that when you read it you should take it seriously. Well here goes…

I try not to guess what other people are thinking when I walk by them.  But I do.  I just want to stop and say to them "Stop looking at me like that", I want to tell them "I can’t help walking like this".  I want to explain myself; I want to tell them what is wrong.  I don’t want people to wonder and I don’t want people to guess.  I have Friedreich’s Ataxia, a neuromuscular disease.  I was diagnosed with it when I was eleven and it has become part of my life. It is a hereditary disease; both of my parents carried the gene. Therefore it isn’t contagious or anything.

Unfortunately I have something called ataxia. Ataxia is a difficulty with balance and foot placement. Imagine that you are walking across a trampoline with kids bouncing around.  You can hold yourself up and walk straight, but you never know when you will be thrown off balance.  Well I’m always walking on that trampoline.  I take my time when I am on the stairs and I always hold the railing. I also write a lot slower than everyone else does but I write neat.  I know I can’t do everything my friends can, like play sports. I know that this is serious and I know that my life will be different.  But I also know that this is not the worst thing ever.

Like everyone else I go to school, I have stuff after school and I do homework.  I can’t be a dancer or a gymnast but I love to act, I play the piano and I go to the mall with my friends. I know that I am different then everyone else but I can be like everyone else. I think that my diagnosis has had a positive impact on my life. It has helped me realize how important life is and that I need to live it to the fullest. Oh yeah, one other thing, don’t think this article is because I don’t want to be asked questions. I don’t want to be ignored because I love to talk to people!

Laura Jacquin - 15
May 2002