"You can do it Ethan. Just walk a little faster. Hurry!" Those are the words that I will regret for the rest of my life.

It all started when my brother Ethan was having trouble walking up and down the stairs. He was always last, and
was very slow. We could never understand why he couldn’t walk like a normal six-year-old boy. He was always picked on by the other kids. Then he would start to walk on his tiptoes. I felt so sorry for him, and tried to help him walk normal.

"Omg! His muscles are so big! I wish I had some that big! I bet he can run fast, and play football well."

Truth is, those muscles are very weak, but they are enlarged. We noticed his muscles were very much larger
than a normal kids. When my mother and father came to the realization that we needed answers. They then took
him to the doctors.

They traveled three hours to Cincinnati, Ohio. When they returned, they had the most devastating news ever. I mean
that has to be the only time I’ve seen my mother cry so much, and be so upset.

Duchene Muscular Dystrophy(DMD) is the disease my brother has been diagnosed with. Which is one of nine types
of Muscular Dystrophy, a group of genetic, degenerative diseases primarily affecting voluntary muscles. Only boys can get
Duchene. It is caused my an absence of dystrphin, a protein that helps keep muscle cells intact. Did you know your heart
is a muscle? Well it is. So that means in about half of my brothers life span, approximately 30 years old, his life is over.

Also, the limit of the child walking is low. The average diagnosed child walks until age 17, sometimes not even that long. The
way I see it, is the weaker muscles take over the strong ones, and cause problems resulting in the child being in a wheelchair.


When I heard her say those words, my heart dropped. I felt guilty, horrible, scared, upset, furious, worried, and confused.
How could my sweet, innocent, baby brother have a deadly disease? How could his life be almost over, and there be nothing
I can do? I felt so bad for telling him to walk faster. I felt like I needed to do something, anything. So I set a goal that day.
A goal that I will be devoted to the rest of my life. A goal to make the rest of his short life a good one, now, and forever. A goal
to help in any way I can. I’m also going to major in some kind of child care when im older. I would love to work with kids, even if they
are disabled or have other health problems.

My brother is very ornery. He loves to joke around, play video games, Spiderman, reading, wrestling, and just being a little
kid. He also falls down allot. The doctor told us that one fall could ruin everything. So when ever we are playing with him, or anything
we are always looking out for him. I want him to live as long as he can without the wheelchair.

In conclusion, my brother has showed me that anything is possible. That as long as you set your mind to it, you can accomplish anything. I mean if you were to look at my brother today, at age eight, he looks very normal. He is just a little boy who was put on this earth to live his life, long or short. To play his videogames and watch Spiderman. A little boy who isn’t going to let a disease destroy who he is as a person. Which is why my little brother is a little trooper.