Readers Digest: Running for his life

This article is about a boy name Ryan who suffers from dystonia, a rare condition similar to Parkinson's disease. The pain started when he was five or six. Ryan would just fall to the floor and scream. Stunt by his symptoms, hospital doctors could do litle more than put Ryan on a morphine drip to knock him out and deaden the pain. Although the full causes of dystonia are not known, researchers beleive the problem can be traced to an abnormality in the basal ganglia. Ryan's dystonia is severe: it affected much of his body, even his face. The older he got, the worse it became. Doctors have tried everything and the only option is to numb his nerve and confine Ryan to a wheelchair. Ryan rejected that idea. A few months later, he took up jogging. The pain seems to subside when he is jogging but he would collapse at times. After much training, he became very fast and was chosen by an athletic club to become a runner. He trained hard and took part in his first official race. He won the first place. Months later he won many medals, including silver and gold. Ryan had succeeded despite his condition.