The Kicher's live their everyday life to the fullest even though one of their sons has muscular dystrophy.
By: Justin Stevens
The Kicher's are frequent visitors to Saluda Shoals Park in Irmo, but they do no stay for long. That is because their first born son, Mark, has a rare muscular reducing disease called Ducheene Muscular Dystrophy. The disease prevents Mark from walking for long periods of time and has to be pushed in a wheelchair when his legs fatigue.Holly Kicher, Mark's Mom, found out about the disease when Mark was three years old. She said that she was devasted when she heard the disease was life-ending.
"It was devastating," Holly said. "Absolutely devastating. It was almost like the muscular dystrophy came into my soul and my heart and took it from me. In that instant, took everything that I had."
When Holly received the news that Mark has muscular dystrophy, she was pregnant with her second son, Edison. The doctor told Holly that she was a carrier of the defected gene causing the disease and that the unborn child had a fifty percent chance of having the same disease.
A few months later, doctors were so excited that they called the Kicher's on the phone and blurted the good news right away. Holly said that when the doctors told her she was relieved, but also was overwhelmed with sadness."I just fell to the floor and just cried and cried and cried," Holly said. "And I was just so thankful that he was going to be healthy and going to be ok. And in that same instant I was overcome with gried again. In reality set in that our other son was going to be facing this alone."
Mark is now eight years old and the disease has progressed to the point where Mark can only play for about ten minutes. Travis Kicher, Mark's father, said seeing his son's condition get worse, his emotions for his son's life have been getting stronger.
"When you see the disease take a hold of him more and more, it just kind of comes out a little bit more and more," Travis said. "So as he is fighting it, we are fighting it too."
Muscular dystrophy has changed their lives in ways they couldn not even imagine, but Travis says they try to be like a "normal" family and try not to make the disease the main focus in their lives."We get up in the morning, we make breakfast, we go to school," Travis said. "We will have arguments, and we will have good times, and we will have sad times just like any other family. We just can’t make it the center of our lives because we will miss out on everything else.”
Holly is now more informed about the disease, since the day she found out about the diagnosis. She said that on average muscular dytrophy patients only live to the age of 18. This is a fact that Holly struggles to think about.
"No parent should have to bury their child," Holly said. "What am I going to do without him. How will continue to live with such a huge part of my life and my heart gone."
Holly will be running in the Marine Corps Marathon on October 27th to fulfill one of Mark's dreams of running. Before the marathon starts, the Kicher's are raising funds and spreading awareness about muscular dystrophy."'Miles for Mark' got started with just a desire to fulfill my child’s dream," Holly Kicher said in an interview last week. "And I thought you know why can’t I run for him. Why can’t he be my heart and I’ll be his legs and just run for him.”
The Kicher's and Mark will continue to fight the disease until that inevitable day comes when Mark passes away. But until that day comes, the Kicher's will be living everyday to the fullest, like it might be Mark's last.
To learn more about the Kicher's "Miles For Mark" campaign or to learn more about muscular dystrophy, visit www.mda.org.
