Natalie Christina McDonald was born on September 22, 1999, the first child to Terry and Christina. She was so perfect and so beautiful. She did everything a normal baby would do in the first year of life except pull herself up to walk. If stood in front of the couch she would “couch walk” but soon her legs would give out and she would crash to the floor and crawl again, very determined to get the things she wanted. We started at 1 year of age with knee x-rays, then blood tests for the more normal stuff, a cat scan, then off to Hamilton to a neuromuscular clinic where at the age of 2 she was diagnosed with SMA Type 2. Natalie was all smiles and love when we sat in the doctor’s office and were given the diagnosis.

She didn’t understand what the future held or meant. Natalie was sitting on my lap and I started to cry and she kept looking around and the doctor handed her the Kleenex box and she started to wipe my tears. She showed us that no matter how bad things were we were so lucky to have her here