Party of 9 – a Column by Betty Vertin

When three of my sons were diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy more than 10 years ago, I shared everything we experienced on social media and found support and understanding. But as they grow older, weaker, and more dependent on me, I find caregiving harder than I could’ve imagined. I…

Pulling into a parking spot at my oldest son’s high school, I hit a parked car with my van. Thankfully, there was no damage to either vehicle, and the car’s owner, sitting in the front seat when I hit it, was amiable and understanding. I could safely unload my son…

I do too much. You might assume I’m talking about caregiving because you’re reading a column written by a caregiver. And in part, you’re right. But mostly, it’s an admission that I’ve been doing things for my three sons with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) that they can…

I love to read, but finding time to sit down with a good book can be challenging in my busy house. As a mom to seven and a primary caregiver to my three sons with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), quiet time is often interrupted by my children. Occasionally, however,…

One of my favorite early-summer memories is from when my sons Max and Rowen were younger. Both lovely little boys — one blond-haired and blue-eyed, the other dark-haired and brown-eyed — squealed with laughter upon discovering a frog in our front yard. Max held the frog up in his hands…

There is joy after a diagnosis of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). There is joy after the loss of ambulation. There is joy in the midst of watching Duchenne slowly work its progressive, muscle-wasting way through my sons Max, 18, Rowen, 14, and Charlie, 12. That may be hard…

When I stopped working at a job away from home in 2007, I never imagined it would be a permanent change. I was pregnant with my third child, Chance, who is now 16, and had decided that I wanted to stay home full-time with my kids. On my last day…

I forgot how scary hope can be. There was a time, a few short months, when I realized I was giving up. I accepted that Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) would continue to progress in my sons, and there wasn’t much I could do about it. I hadn’t thrown in…

“The stages of Duchenne.” I remember seeing this heading on many of the websites I obsessively read when I learned that my three sons, Max, 18, Rowen, 14, and Charlie, 12, had Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The stages of Duchenne are like a timeline of disease progression. Parent…

I’m a small-town girl. I love that I can get from one end of my hometown in rural Nebraska to the other in a few short minutes, that there is never traffic, and that the only time I get stuck in a crowd is if I go to the county…