03/06/2015:

Name: Nikita    Age: 27 Yrs.

Country: India

LGMD Sub-Type:  unknown

At what age were you diagnosed:

Symptoms since I was 21Yrs

What were your first symptoms:

Tripping while running , tiredness on climbing for long.

Do you have other family members who have LGMD:   No

What do you find to be the greatest challenges in living with LGMD:

Currently I can walk , but I need support for climbing upstairs, also I cannot get up from ground level on my own now.  So, stairs, high slopes and getting up from flat ground are my greatest challenges currently.  But as this issue will progress, I feel my real issue will be depending on others for help.  As I am a very independent person and I resist taking help as much as I can.  My challenges will become physical and mental both.

What is your greatest accomplishment:

LGMD has made me stronger in a lot of ways, mentally mostly. I now see how a few things can be done in different ways rather than the usual normal ways. I took some time to accept this change, but I think it makes me more confident and practical in life.  It was a small incident that I wouldn’t be able to forget. It was a trip with friends and they wanted to go river rafting, I wanted to ditch them as I wasn’t sure how I would get in, get out and climb up d hill. My friends pushed me hard and said a funny thing… If you drop we are 5 to pick you up, you aren’t that heavy, brought a smile to my face and I went for it. I not only did rafting, but I went down in the cold water of Ganges and had the best experience. When the rafting was over, we had a hill to climb up, I used the paddles to get up and slowly I was there. One of my friend said….. Proud of you and everyone clapped. My confidence level grew 10 times!

How has LGMD influenced you into becoming the person you are today:

As I mentioned above, I have become more matured, strong and now I see that life is not what we always expect it to be. Things go terribly wrong and we need to put efforts to still keep moving and smiling. Be thankful for what we have and not crib about petty issues.

What do you want the world to know about LGMD:

The biggest issue in my country would be lack of disable friendly zones , we are a developing nation and we do not have right amenities for handling disabilities. It’s not only the infrastructure but also the perception that people have about disabled. Generally people would sympathize and assume that we have to be dependent on someone throughout our lives. I would want that to change. I would want people to accept me for what I am and instead of sympathizing just treat me as a normal person.

If your LGMD could be “cured” tomorrow, what would be the first thing that you would want to do:

I would run a mile 😀 , climb upstairs every day and keep myself fit to not ruin my health with any other disease to come.  And yes….. Dance till I drop 😀