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Mountain Regional Representative
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Anke Smih with sons Connor and Alexander and husband Ron. |
Anke Smith
I was born in Weinheim, Germany on March 15, 1971 I graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Drafting in Engineering in 1992, and was employed in this field for 4 years before I started training as a Flight Attendant for American Airlines in January 1996 :) Ron, my husband and best friend, married in 1999 and in 2005 we adopted Connor and Alexander at age of 11 months from Khabarovsk, Russia :) Our boys are identical twins who had an identical medical problem of a Tethered Spinal Cord. Both had surgeries to correct this at TCH in Dallas, TX.
Connor, our first born, was diagnosed with severe JDM in January 11, 2010. We spend 3 weeks at CMH in Chicago, under the care of Dr. Pachman and Dr. Curran and by the end of February Connor was airlifted via Care Flight from Chicago to Denver so we could be closer to our home in Lake George, CO. We then spend 4 weeks at TCH in Denver under the care of Dr. Soep.
We are so blessed to have found the most amazing Doctors to treat Connor, and between CureJM, the Doctors and Medical Teams we have found tremendous support in our journey.
In November of 2010 Connor and Alexander also entered the Twin Research Study under Dr. Rider and Connor as well entered the Myositis Research Study. Connor is doing fairly well and in some ways his progress in getting better is almost as astonishing as it was in watching how fast this Disease attacked him initially.