"Will you be my couple?"

A teenager with an incurable disease met his first love and lives on the maximum. Here is his story

The 16-year-old Artem has a rare hereditary disease-Ulrich's congenital muscle dystrophy. From birth, he cannot walk and now moves in an electric car. He always doubted that someone could accept him with such a disease-but a year ago he met his love. Artem told the “cold” how his relationship with a normotypical girl develops and how it changed his life and perception of himself.

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"A week - at home, a week - in the hospital, as on business trips"

The earliest that I remember from childhood is a hospital. At a time, doctors made me a bunch of injections in the muscles in order to at least somehow tone them. Then I could not: neither chew nor sit. If I ate something, then I was sick. This could lead to obstruction - violation of patency in the respiratory tract. And I was hospitalized again. And so in a circle. A week - at home, a week - in the hospital, as on business trips. And all this lasted up to seven years. Due to such a lifestyle, I did not have a single friend except Zita's dog. She was bought just because I did not get out of the house and hospitals. Also, sometimes my grandmother played with me.

When I was seven years old, the children's house “House with a lighthouse” took me under guardianship and issued medical equipment - a non -invasive artificial ventilation of the lungs, which helps me breathe at night, an electric stroller, and also drugs and supplies to equipment. My condition began to slowly improve: I gained weight and finally began to go outside.

My family and I live in Dubna. At first I was brought to a local school for people with disabilities. This school could not provide me with training in a full -fledged general education program. And in a regular school they said that teachers would not come to the house. As a result, my mother was able to find another school where I could combine homework and classes in a class with ordinary children.

At school, I had a first friend - Leva. He came to visit me, but not all the guys accepted me. Others could look askance, and now this happens. Sometimes you correspond on the network, everything is fine, and then a person learns about my disease and begins to behave unceremoniously: for example, point with a finger or asking why I do not go, or pity me. Hear this pity at every acquaintance too much, of course. I like to feel the empathy of others, but not at the beginning of communication and phrases like: "So sorry for you."

"She was not scared away by my recognition"

Once I went for a walk and I went for a walk, and his acquaintance Olya joined us ( the name was changed at the request of the heroine ). They walked and forgot. A year has passed. We stopped friends with his left, because he transferred to another school, and I was left alone. I lacked communication, so I filled out a questionnaire in the Bot for dating "Leonardo Davelchik", where you can meet with different people. I pointed out in the interests that the character of Sergei Goroshko from the Universe of Major Thunder - Top. The girl crap me and wrote: "What are you, Dima Dubin is better." This is another hero from the universe, the policeman and friend of the main character.

Then I looked closely at her photo and realized that this is the same Olya. During the first meeting, she really did not know anything about me, only saw that I was in a stroller. Therefore, it was necessary to tell her about the disease, although I, of course, was shy. As a result, she was not scared away by my confession. On the contrary, she became interested in the disease, began to read different studies. So Olya somewhere read that I can die at any moment. I had to reassure it: people with the muscle dystrophy of Ulrich can live up to 50 years with proper care.

After some time, she came to me in Dubna from Moscow. When our meetings became regular, we had feelings. We discussed this and understood that it is too early to make serious decisions - you need to better know each other.

Once she came to visit me on her birthday. We reviewed the "Major of the Thunder", ate rolls. And then suddenly she turns to me and asks: "Are you my couple?" It was very unexpected and pleasant. Of course, I agreed. Even more of this news, my relatives were delighted, for seven years endured the music of Morgenstern from the column with which Leva came to me.

"She easily shifts me from a stroller to a bed and vice versa"

In April there will be a year of our relationship with Olya. Our leisure depends on the time of the year. In the summer we can calmly go five kilometers, go to the cinema, take a walk in the park, and then return home in the rain and sing songs.

In winter, it is difficult for me to move in a stroller in the snow and snowdrifts, so we spend most of the time at home. For example, Olya teaches me to knit - I recently made a heart myself! On my birthday, Olya tied me up the monkey because I adore them. Together we love to cook, listen to music and watch movies and TV shows. Now I show her “in all difficult”, then to discuss later.

At the table, I can make a sandwich myself or raise something light, but this is the maximum. Olya is playing sports, so she easily shifts me from a stroller to a bed and vice versa, helps me put on something, correct and take it.

Thanks to our relationship, my self -esteem has risen. I feel a support in it. When I feel bad, I can write to her. I know that she will never condemn me and always treat me with understanding. It is trite, but I feel necessary for someone else, except for my family. I still can’t believe that there is a person who writes to me “Good morning” and “good night”. After that, the morning really becomes kind, and the night is calm. I think these are the feelings that I was waiting for.

No need to be afraid to be yourself. If a person appreciates you, he will not condemn you. Even if you like yellow, and he can walk green, or one can walk, and the other does not.