Tommy's Story
Being a 5th grader can be hard for any kid. Tests, papers, projects, girls…. the list of complications just gets longer and longer. But my problems seem to be bigger than other kids in my class because I was not made like everyone else. Hi, my name is Tommy, and I have something called Maple Syrup Urine Disease, MSUD is what my doctor and all the medical people in his office call it.
Being different is hard. My mom always tries to cheer me up and says that I was born special and that I am unique. She says all people are born unique and if we weren’t than the world would be a very boring place. She does her best but she doesn’t understand everything I have to deal with, but I love her for trying.
My alarm clock goes off at 7:00 but I don’t like to wake up till about 7:01, you wouldn’t think that an extra minute of sleep makes a difference but to me to does!! We are out the door by 7:30 and off to school me and my little brother Billy go. Billy is in 1st grade and he can be so annoying sometimes but mom says that I have to love him anyways because he is my brother.
The first class is Math, then English, followed by my least favorite Social Studies, blah. Then comes the worst part of the day….. LUNCH. For most kids lunch is the best part of the day, but when you have MSUD lunch time can be such a drag. While everyone gets to eat pizza, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and swap their Oreos for Swiss Cake rolls, I have to eat the lunch my mom made for me. And no one EVER wants to trade lunch with me and the one time I tried to swap with Ted, the teacher caught me. My mom had to tell her about my disorder. She said it was for my own safety but I don't think the teacher needs to be all in my business. Guess she just worries because she is a mom and it is her job.
It is not very fun being different than everyone else in my class. They can eat whatever they want and nothing ever happens to them but because of my MSUD I have to be on a very strict diet. My doctor says that my body can’t break down certain foods even though other people can. He says that it is still very important for me to eats foods like the ones that my body won’t let me eat but they have to be made different than the typical foods you would find at the supermarket.
I am not allowed to have regular milk so I drink is a special kind of milk made with things that my body likes. When I was little was mom said that it was made just for me and we called it my “Manly Milk”. She said it was made special in order for me grow and keep me strong. My mom knows all about my diet because my Uncle Phil has MSUD too. My mommy now calls it the Tommy Diet, which is anything that is low in protein and no eggs, meat, milk, nuts, and dairy products. I had to learn the hard way how important the Tommy diet is. One time I was at my friends Kevin’s house and he had this huge pantry in the kitchen full of tons of food. When Kevin was playing a game on his new X- Box 360, I sneaked into the kitchen and I saw a jar of Oreo Cookies. I have seen jars of cookies before but these were the double stuffed Oreos. I had seen kids eat them before at lunch and had always wanted to try them and I thought that just one wouldn't hurt so I did. But one lead to one more, and then another one, and then another one. I was just about to stop because I wasn’t feeling so hot and then Kevin’s mom came in a busted me.
She called my mom and my mom came and got me and we rushed to the hospital. Besides feeling like complete garbage, I was ok. The doctor and nurses came in and told me just how important it was to take care of myself and my diet and what could happen if I didn’t. Feeling like garbage in NOT fun and worrying my mom is even worse.
Beside lunch, recess has got to be my second least favorite part of the day. All the boys gather around to play football and the girls play jump rope or those other girlie games. I never get picked to play football because all the kids say I have a disease and that I can’t, so I usually just sit and watch. But one day I got the strength to stand in line to be picked to go on a team. But still no one picked me all because of my MSUD. They said they were afraid if I tackled them they would catch it. Being different is hard enough but when you can’t play at recess like everyone else, it makes things even harder. My teacher, Mrs. A, saw what the kids were doing and called the team in for a huddle. I couldn’t tell what was going on but I knew that she must have been talking about me. Then Mrs. A walked off the field and over towards me. “Tommy” she said “You are wanted out on the field”. Even though I knew the only reason I was able to play was because of Mrs. A, that wasn’t going to stop me from showing everyone in school my skills. I rushed out on the field and the first pass was to me. This was the moment that I had been waiting for. I caught it and took off. I ran faster than I had ever ran before and then the most amazing thing happened, I scored the first touchdown!!!
Everyone on my team ran over to me and we all celebrated. I know that it was just a game at recess but I had never felt so good. For a moment I felt like every other kid and I was never not picked to play football again.
