What is this Spinal Muscular Atrophy

I have been visiting the hospitals quite regularly these few weeks. I always hear mummy and daddy talking about Spinal Muscular Atrophy with the doctors and therapists.

Just what is that? Daddy copy and pasted something from wikipedia for me

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an incurable autosomal recessive disease caused by a genetic defect in the SMN1 gene which codes SMN, a protein necessary for survival of motor neurons, and resulting in death of neuronal cells in the anterior horn of spinal cord and subsequent system-wide muscle wasting (atrophy).

This SMN seems like food for the motor neurons. Without food, they will die and hence will not control the muscles. Like me, I go weak and hungry without milk.

So this is why I am unable to lift my head and legs. I also belong to the Type I category. 

But I hear this isn't the worst of my problems. The more serious problem could be to do with my breathing. As my lungs need to use muscles to pump air in and out of me, it will be affected too. My fellow cute babies who were affected and passed away were mainly through the failure of the respiratory system. 

We have been advised to avoid crowded area to minimise falling ill to the common cold because of the complications that will affect the lungs and also my breathing.

Yeah that's seems true. I remember that last time I had a mild cold, I recovered slower than my cousin Isaac.

Which also means, I may have problem feeding too, since swallowing needs muscles too.

OMG. I LOVE FOOD. How can like that? I want to cry already. I must have my milk or cereal every 3 hours. Looks like mummy or daddy needs to be more careful when feeding me, especially my favourite milk.

So this is more or less what is SMA and how it will affect me. But I guess so long mummy and daddy is around, I am sure they will love me, carry me wherever I would like to go, keep me happy, make me smile and laugh.

And I will smile for them for as long as I can.