Labour savers...

One of the greatest inventions I personally think is awesome is the ceiling hoist. It goes by many names but basically it involves a sling being wrapped around a body and then being attached to a machine that lifts a person up.

It's great because for me it's far more comfortable than being lifted by a person. Being lifted by hand hurts my tracheotomy tube and because my arms are weak I couldn't hold on. Not to mention the danger it places on my parents backs. I definitely think for those with DMD using the hoist is important for your safety as well as your caregivers. Although you must do what's best for you as we are unique individuals and not carbon copies.

Extract;
...it was time for me to be hoisted into my wheelchair. My mother hooks the grey sling surrounding my body onto the metal crossbar hanging from the hoist and I’m raised up into the air. My arms are carefully positioned on my legs so that my shoulders won’t hurt. Next I’m moved over my wheelchair by the touch of the button and carefully lowered in......

Read my book DMD LIFE ART & ME to find out more on those labour savers that help me out; Buy here; http://duchennemen.net16.net/buymybook.html



Foreword

I’m Ian Griffiths from South Wales. This book is a story of my life so far up to the age of twenty five years. I live with and suffer from the ill effects of DMD which stands for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. It is a severe muscle wasting disease and a life limiting terminal illness. It won’t kill you in six months in the traditional sense of ‘terminal’, but it’s far crueller than that, it steals every muscle in your body first and then kills you, anywhere up to the age of thirty. There have been cases of men living past that into their forties and fifties but only with drastic interventions such as ventilators and tracheotomies, more on this can be found by reading on.
I hope to cover a few things in this book, from a history of my childhood years to a more detailed history from sixteen years onwards and finally onto my current problems and triumphs. At times things I write may make you smile or may make you pause and think about the seriousness of life with this devastating disease. I really hope there will be a cure but currently for us supposedly ‘older’ guys with DMD (over twenty one), there seems very little hope. If I don’t see a cure in my lifetime, I hope my campaigning helps in some way bring it about for future generations, so another child won’t have to see their body wither and die before their time.