Gwendolyn Strong

As promised, we will be posting about other kiddos with SMA this month. To kick off this month of awareness, we begin with a very special little lady...

This adorable darling is Gwendolyn Strong. She is three-years-old and has really touched our hearts. Her beautiful, expressive eyes captured my soul and I feel as if I know her, although I have never had the pleasure of meeting her. Her wonderful parents, Bill & Victoria, were the first people we spoke to via email after Nicholas's diagnosis with SMA in April 2009. I continue to keep in touch with Victoria and ask her all kinds of questions regarding all sorts of SMA-type things. She most recently helped us with our order for Nicholas's EASyS stroller.

Gwendolyn has SMA type 1 which is the most severe form and was diagnosed when she was just a few months old. This in no way limits her ability to have fun and to experience life! She attended preschool this past year, went with her parents on a trip to Sea World, and attended her first circus! She is also fortunate to live in southern California where she is blessed with an abundance of sunshine, so I understand she takes daily walks with her mommy & daddy and gets to dine at coffee shops and cool restaurants and window shop. Gwendolyn loves to play and Wizard of Oz and Jessie from Toy Story are among some of her favorites right now. Gwendolyn doesn't speak much (as is common with SMA children) but she can communicate quite well using her eyes and small finger movements. Her mom said that the children in her preschool class absolutely loved communicating with her this way and she made friends easily. She is fortunate to also live close to her best friend, Hayden, and the two girls love to have play dates where they dress-up in beautiful princess dresses and have tea parties.

The Strongs created a foundation named after their daughter, and it is one of the SMA charities that we continuously support. If you are interested in reading more about sweet Gwendolyn and all of her adventures, please check out her blog: http://www.gwendolynstrong.com/

We love you, Gwendolyn! Thanks for letting us share a little bit about you!