Wise Young
08-08-2005, 06:55 PM
From Houston, TX
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14971871&BRD=1574&PAG=461&dept_id=532255&rfi=6
A businessman faces obstacles with a positive attitude.
As problematic as life can be sometimes, Crosby businessman Angel Gonzalez said there is always a silver lining.
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One look at Gonzalez, who suffers from transverse myelitis (TM), can't measure up to problems his friends might think are irreversible.
He tries to put their woes in perspective and sometimes it works, he said.
Gonzalez, a Spring resident, is wheelchair-bound and has been in this condition since 2001 when he was on his honeymoon in Hawaii. A two-week excursion turned into an unforgettable one-month stay in the Aloha State.
Now he has lost all feeling from his waist down and is unable to walk.
"I'm lucky but I'm unlucky. It could have been from my neck down," Gonzalez said. "As it is, I can still use my arms and my upper body so I'm still independent."
Just days into his honeymoon following his July 21, 2001 marriage, he was admitted to a hospital on July 27 and later told about TM, which to this day doctors still don't know how he contracted the disease.
According to the medical industry, TM is an uncommon neurological syndrome caused by inflammation (a protective response which includes swelling, pain, heat, and redness) of the spinal cord, characterized by weakness, back pain, and bowel and bladder problems.
It affects one to five persons per million. Gonzalez said
95 percent of the cases go unknown like his.
"It could have been something in the water or something I ate (in Texas), something in the air," Gonzalez said.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14971871&BRD=1574&PAG=461&dept_id=532255&rfi=6
A businessman faces obstacles with a positive attitude.
As problematic as life can be sometimes, Crosby businessman Angel Gonzalez said there is always a silver lining.
Advertisement
One look at Gonzalez, who suffers from transverse myelitis (TM), can't measure up to problems his friends might think are irreversible.
He tries to put their woes in perspective and sometimes it works, he said.
Gonzalez, a Spring resident, is wheelchair-bound and has been in this condition since 2001 when he was on his honeymoon in Hawaii. A two-week excursion turned into an unforgettable one-month stay in the Aloha State.
Now he has lost all feeling from his waist down and is unable to walk.
"I'm lucky but I'm unlucky. It could have been from my neck down," Gonzalez said. "As it is, I can still use my arms and my upper body so I'm still independent."
Just days into his honeymoon following his July 21, 2001 marriage, he was admitted to a hospital on July 27 and later told about TM, which to this day doctors still don't know how he contracted the disease.
According to the medical industry, TM is an uncommon neurological syndrome caused by inflammation (a protective response which includes swelling, pain, heat, and redness) of the spinal cord, characterized by weakness, back pain, and bowel and bladder problems.
It affects one to five persons per million. Gonzalez said
95 percent of the cases go unknown like his.
"It could have been something in the water or something I ate (in Texas), something in the air," Gonzalez said.