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My sweet cat, Shadow, hasn’t left my side in days. I have been experiencing increased joint and muscle pain due to my Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) and changes in the weather, particularly the colder temperatures. Sometimes, I think that Shadow knows when I’m feeling unwell. Though Shadow can’t understand why I’m…

“I like your shirt.” I didn’t expect to hear such a comment while wearing my Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association (CMTA) T-shirt. It happened twice in the past two months, and when I turned around I didn’t find a fellow CMTer, a…

Ugh! I twisted my arm, and now I need to see a specialist. Several years ago, I fell off my bike and dislocated my right elbow, and I still have issues with it. The other day, I went to pick something up and twisted my arm the wrong way. Now…

I leave strange footprints. Luckily, I usually walk on solid ground and don’t need to think about them. Most days, I only encounter paved streets and driveways, carpeted floors, and grassy fields. And I like that. After all, anything that can assist with stability is…

Listening to the song “Things That Make You Go Hmmm” by C+c Music Factory got my wheels turning. There are times when I wonder what in the world people are thinking. I have Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) and mobility issues. That means I use a cane at times and have a…

“Askew,” a work of art by American painter and sculptor Roxy Paine, stands just outside the West Building at the North Carolina Museum of Art. It’s an almost 50-foot, tree-like metal structure, with a trunk and…

I was recently reminded why I avoid the grocery store on a Sunday morning: the crowds! I find it difficult to navigate a crowded store, especially when there are shopping carts and other items blocking the aisles. This is not only an issue at the grocery store. As my Charcot-Marie-Tooth…

At the start of 2019, I knew little about Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT). My lack of knowledge about the disease meant that I had gaps in understanding of myself, a person with CMT, and a beneficiary of a wider disability rights movement. I owe much of my growth this year…

I burned my finger the other day. I didn’t feel it right away, which is not that odd of an occurrence for me. Often, I don’t feel the heat and don’t realize I have burned myself while cooking. I have Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) type 1A, which may affect the feeling in…

Tina Trahan said she was sitting in a parking lot in May 2015 when she cried out to God, asking him to give her cancer. Cancer, she thought, offered a greater chance of survival than what a neurologist had just told her she had —…