My name is Cole David Waggoner.  I am 13 years old and live with my family in Waterloo, Iowa.

I just completed the sixth grade.  In September, on the 3rd, I will be starting middle school.  Nervous?  You bet.  I was one of the top kids on the totem pole in elementary school; now I will be one of the babies on the bottom rung.  I know the upper kids will make fun of me ....

To make matters worse, I happen to be in a wheelchair.  I have Duchenne muscular dystrophy (diagnosed at five).  I have lost any and all ability to walk.  I walked up until the age of ten, three years ago, and then it was on crutches.  Then my legs got weaker, and ... I now sit in this chair.  It's a drag.

I have done pretty well, all things considering, but the fact is this: I will never get any better.  If anything, I will continue to get worse.  My disease is fatal; most people who have Duchenne's don't live past their teens or early adulthood.  So I have that on my mind, and to tell you the honest to god truth, it scares the heck outta me!

I don't know what I could have possibly done to deserve this.  I feel like I am a burden to my family (mom, dad, younger sister Mallory, and older brother Ben).  I need help to and from the toilet, as well as with eating, getting dressed, and going from place to place.  When I'm in my chair, I'm in control (as it's electric; I control the chair with a switch on the armrest); when it conks out or am not in it, then I feel helpless and scared.

I have done some cool things (meet different celebrities: Cher, Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts, Keith Urban, Toby Keith, Loretta Lynn, The Osmonds, Kiss, ec., gone on a hot air balloon ride, have had free and choice seating at several different sporting events, and gone to DisneyWorld for Make-A-Wish), but deep down inside, I feel sad because I know I won't be around long enough to be able to graduate from high school (doctors are saying I will not live to see 16 or 17; that's only 3 or 4 more years!).  I feel cheated somehow.

I know it's not mom's fault that she carried the faulty gene that resulted in my having Duchenne's; it was just a nasty fluke of nature.  If anything, I blame god; I know I shouldn't, but at times, I can't help myself.  I see my friends swimming, leaping, jumping, or playing sports, and here I am, sitting in my chair, on the sidelines, pretending to have a great time; and while I may be cheering on the outside, inside, my heart is breaking, each and every time.

Well, I've done it: made myself cry again.  Damn it, I hate it when this happens!  I am gonna go; crying too hard to write!  Take care; be well, and if it ain't too much trouble, wing some prayers to Heaven; god must be mad at me and I gotta make amends with me somehow .... thanks!

~Cole.  :(