I am Courtney Wade, a 9 years old girl. Here are some of the things about my life that are pretty cool. Snow skiing, and snow tubing, and ice skating. That's in the winter, of course. In the summer I love the beach, except when I have sand on me for a long time. Then I simply have to take a bath! I'm so lucky because my family has a house at the beach. My favorite color is yellow and I love cats. I have a cat named Crissy. I love music, too, and that I can enjoy winter or summer!

I have this strange medical problem called maple syrup urine disease. I know that it sounds like a stupid name so we call it msud instead, just its initials. Because of this disease, I am sick a lot, and that means two things.

One, I have to go visit doctors a bunch, although I guess that's not so bad since I love my doctors. Two, though, is not so great, because I really hate needles...I'm scared of them. Luckily, I have a port so I do not have to get stuck a lot. (A port the top part of a skinny, skinny tube that's been inserted into a vein in my body. It doesn't really hurt, and as I've mentioned, I can get fluids through it without having to be stuck all the time).

My doctor is really nice and she wants me to get well. She tries real hard to make me feel better, she always tells me the truth, and she doesn't treat me like a baby.

I don't go to school right now. My doctor won't let me, though I'm not real sure why. Maybe it's because I catch a lot of germs from other kids. I want to go back, especially next year when I'm in the 5th grade. Even though I'm not in school, I take dance, and I love ballet and jazz. They are so much fun. Sometimes my disease makes me too tired to dance and I do not like that.

I have a sister Jordan, and I help her with her homework sometimes. She is 11, and my brother, Michael, is 5. He is so mean to me, really annoying, following me around and bugging me all the time. If you have a brother, you'll know what I mean! My best friend is Brooke. We like pokemon and ice skating. I have other friends like Caroline and Sarah and Jenna, but I don't get to spend the night at their houses because their moms are afraid I will get sick or eat the wrong thing.

I wish I were like my sister and could go where I want all the time. She gets to go to slumber parties and she is going to Disney World with her friend...and I can't. She gets to go to camp, too, and I don't. I cried a lot about that one. I don't get teased very much, but I get treated like a baby by kids younger than me because I am so small. That is a pain!

One of my doctors suggested that I get a special kind of button in my tummy. The button would connect my tummy to the outside of me, so that I could get extra food that way through a tiny tube. Maybe then I would grow as tall as Jordan, and I might even wear her clothes. Mommy doesn't like the button idea. She wants me to be able to swim and play like everyone else.

I don't like it when people whisper about me. I am not deaf. My grandparents are terrible about that. My hair was falling out and they whisper to people about it but I could hear.

My disease makes my head hurt really bad when I eat too much protein or when I'm sick. I puke a lot when I am sick, too, which is not a lot of fun, believe me. I really hate to do that. My friends know all about my disease, but very few other people do. Of course if you're interested in learning more, just click away! In the meantime, thanks again for visiting. I hope you learned that I'm a lot like other kids. This disease is not something you can catch from me, so don't worry about that,either.

Write to Courtney