My name is Neyveth Duarte and my dad was officially diagnosed with Ataxia earlier this year. My dad is my hero and he is going through a really hard time due to his current symptoms. Growing up my dad was a very active man who played baseball for over 3 decades and was always my family’s “go to man”. He has always been the person every can rely on and the person that everyone admires the most. Besides his active sport life, he is a well-known member of the city I grew up in, Agua Prieta, Sonora Mexico. He worked for the city hall as an accountant for over 35 years, and this year due to his symptoms he had to retire. He truly loved his job.

It all started 2 years ago, when my dad finally decided to get knee surgery in both knees. Due to his long history in baseball it was something that was needed, as his legs had become crocked. The recovery seemed normal, until the second surgery came a year later after the first one. My mom began to notice my dad will lose focus and easily disoriented while driving, he will slur his words, and he began to lose the ability to do his usual signature for work documents. We also noticed that he will lean toward the side but due to his recent knee surgery we thought that was the reason. However, his symptoms began to worsen. He stopped driving, his voice began to change, he had difficulty sleeping, he began to get depressed and isolated.

My mom and I desperate for an answer went to a couple of neurologists, but due to how small our hometown is my mom had to drive my dad to nearby cities to meet with various types of specialists who will give my mom a variety of diagnosis. Two years, it took for my dad to get the Ataxia diagnosis, which at that point he lost mobility of his legs, incontinence, lost coordination in his limbs and became even more isolated from others. We’re still struggling to get him the proper care due to the city my dad lives in and the limited resources the state has. I live in Phoenix, Arizona and I know there are facilities out here that could provide him with more options, but my parents are not citizens. Therefore, we feel stuck. We haven’t been able to get him a proper diagnosis to see which type of ataxia is.

My dad has always been my hero, that superman I looked up to and he still is. I just wish I could help him more and had more answers to his disease..