Photography And Half-Thoughts By Mitchell Hegman

...because some of it is pretty and some of it is not.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Transverse Myelitis Forum

Today marks what would have been my wedding anniversary, had my wife survived the cancer that ultimately took her.  Thinking about her and curious about what I might find, I conducted a Google internet search using only her name: “Uyen Hegman.”  The very first hit was from a forum on the Transverse Myelitis Foundation Association webpages.  The forum entries I found (shown below) are from April of 2008.  The first is Uyen’s original post to the forum.  The next posts are self-explanatory.  In a way Uyen’s transverse myelitis came to define her.  Obviously, the internet thinks so… 

Uyen Hegman (Original Post):
Hi,
My name is Uyen Hegman. I live in Helena, Montana. I have TM since
1996. It's been a long hall for me. I was paralyzed from the neck
down for about 4 months when I first got TM. Now I can walk with a
can. I still have all the symptoms of TM: fatigue, pain, depression,
you name it! I just got laid off from the Post Office where I've
been working for 15 years!

I always like to make pretty things with my own hands. I just open a
web store to sell my handcrafts. I contacted Jim Lubin to set up an
announcement about donating 10% of my sale proceeds to TMA.
Please take a look at my shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5653104
There is so much research needed to find the cure for TM and any help
you can do to raise fund for this cause is greatly appreciated!
Thanks again,
Uyen

A….. J….. (Question Posed to Uyen)
hi uyen
do u face any urinary disorder. m use cathter 2 paas urine.

Uyen Hegman (Answer):
Hi
No, I have normal bladder function. When I first got sick in 1996, I
had to use the cath for about 4 months. Then one day I thought may be
I should try to pass the urine. Well, it was kinda funny, it did a
little bit, embarrassing to say. I called my doctor, she said to "
try to stimulate my private part a little to encourage the nerve" . I
did and passed urine a little more. Now I'm O.K.
How long since you have TM? For what I understand with a lot of
reading about TM, Patient usually improves with time. Don't give up
hope!
Uyen

A….. J….. (Question Posed to Uyen)
m suffring TM from last 4 year. now wts ur condition.
which type of prblm u face in ur life. i cant sex also. m 21 year old thats
y m afraid wen i think abt my future. sorry my english is nit good. i hope u
can understand wt u want


Uyen Hegman (Answer):
Hi,
You may want to check the TM forum. Go to WWW.myelitis.org. On the
main page, there are different topics you can read about TM on the
left hand column. I hope you'll get better!
Uyen

1 comment:

  1. What a wonderful woman she was. I wish I could of met her.

    ReplyDelete