“A Nearly Normal Life” by Charles L. Mee

My twins Lily and Charlotte were born on June 13, 1995, at 27 weeks, nearly three months earlier than full term. Lily was diagnosed with cerebral palsy on her first birthday, and Charlotte was diagnosed shortly after her second birthday. After the news settled, I was on a mission to meet a 13-year-old with cerebral palsy. It didn’t matter if the child was a boy or a girl, I just wanted to see what our future looked like. Of course I know now that I was a fool. No two people with cerebral palsy are ever exactly alike. But at the time, I was a 32-year-old new mother looking for answers. When I couldn’t find a 13-year-old with CP just wandering around Laurel Village, I decided I would turn to my back up plan: research. If I couldn’t see our future I would read about it. My quest led me to this book, “A Nearly Normal Life” by Charles L. Mee. The author, who is still alive at 79, was diagnosed with polio as a teenager growing up in small Midwestern town. I’m well aware of the differences between polio and CP, but something about Mee’s memoir not only spoke to me, it gave me more hope than I ever could have imagined for my girls.  Instead of struggling with his physical disability, he developed his intellectual potential and became a playwright, historian, author and professor of theater at Columbia University. He graduated from Harvard University, and went on to get married and have five children. This book gave me the courage to dream similar lofty ambitions for my own twins. And I am so proud of both of them—Lily’s continued interest in San Francisco public policy, and Charlotte soon will be on her way to Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health for a master’s degree. On April 28, 2018, I will be walking in my 13th March for Babies walk with Team Berliner to raised money for premature babies. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.