MDF Magazine Issue 63 December 2020. 8 December

People
Living with Becker Muscular Dystrophy
and Playing Sports
By Brad Miller of My Beckers Story
Eventually though the Muscular Dystrophy did
take away my ability to run completely, so my
days of being involved in team sports were over.
So from that point on I was always stuck sitting
on the sidelines watching the other kids play. So
at a very young age I was use to sitting out
especially in school, but eventually I was
exempted from gym class so the feelings of
being left out slowly faded away.
Thankfully around this same time what helped
is the fact that I found a new way to be involved
in team sports, without having to run or push
myself physically. Thanks to a little company
by the name of Sega which introduce their first
gaming system, I was able to get back into
playing sports. You see playing video games
gave me the opportunity to participate in
physically demanding sports that I would never
be able to in real life. See gaming systems like
the XBOX and Sony's Playstation changed
everything for me. I now had the opportunity to
join in with my friend by playing video games.
Growing up like most children playing sports
took up a large portion of my childhood. Living
in Canada it should come as no surprise that I
grew up around street hockey. I could never play
though as my brother and his friends played and
intense game and I would have been unable to
keep up.
The very first sport I was even involved in was
soccer and it felt great to be part of a team. I
actually played on one of the local community
children’s soccer teams and still remember how
much I enjoyed playing. It was at this point I
noticed I was having issues keeping up with the
other kids on my team. While the other children
would run from one end of the field to another I
was getting left behind.
So as you can see I was able to find ways of
adapting to the changes I was facing related
to not being able to play sports anymore. My
only suggestion is to limit the time you spend
playing video games and make sure you also
focus on other things in life. Sure this is what
worked for me but depending on your physical
capabilities you might just be able to participate
in wheelchair related sports such as Tennis,
Basketball or even the Paralympic sport known
as Boccia Ball. I am just glad I found a solution
to living with Becker's Muscular Dystrophy and
not being able to join in playing sports.
Follow Brad’s story on Facebook & Instagram @
MyBeckersStory mybeckersstory.blogspot.com
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