Catherine Nelson Ph.D. – BBSH / Pathwork

Radio Interview of a Mother & Her Son with MS

Catherine Nelson, Ph.D.
March-April 2020 • Vol 3, No 109

One cold night in January, I was driving home and listening to the last part of a radio interview of a mother and her son. The mother has muscular dystrophy, which is a degenerative disease of the voluntary muscles that control movement in the body. She talked about making “choices” in life. She said that everything we do or don’t do is a “choice” and has a consequence.

This mother is in physical pain much of her day. She makes a conscious choice every morning to get up, to make a cup of coffee, and to go through her day in physical pain. She said she is very aware of each choice she makes. Her muscular dystrophy is slowly worsening, but she appreciates all the medical help and medications she receives.

Her eleven-year-old son, who was born with muscular dystrophy, was also interviewed. His health and ability to live is more precarious. He struggled to breathe and talk during the interview. He had two siblings who were also born with muscular dystrophy, and they had died. The doctors told his mother that he would not make it past one year. He did. They then predicted he would die by age two. He didn’t. The doctors are amazed he has made it to age eleven.

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Getting Back to Basic Core Values

Catherine Nelson, Ph.D.
January–February 2019 • Vol 3, No 102

Here we are at the beginning of a new year. In our culture it is customary to reflect on the past year and set some goals and priorities for the coming year. We are leaving a year that was filled with excess and inundation—political commercials spending excessive amounts of money. We are inundated with all the pressure to buy things over the holidays, with the emphasis on “things,” not relationships. We are bombarded with excessive amounts of information in the media, on our computers and cell phones. Endless kinds of entertainment are available day and night. Many of us are distracted, mesmerized, overwhelmed, even addicted, to looking at the little and big screens in our world of technology. More and more of us, adults and teenagers, look like cell-phone zombies as we walk down the street totally focused on their gadget. Some of these individuals trip and fall; some forget where they are; some get hit by cars!

It’s interesting to note that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were both very restrictive about the use of technology for their children and teens. There are recent reports from veterinarians that our domestic animals are suffering from depression because their owners are not paying attention to them. Another factor to examine is the high rate of suicide in the US, and especially in Montana.

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