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MUMS: A Welcome Helping Hand

© Michelle Struik

Despite our best attempts and the abilities of modern science to prevent birth defects, they still happen. Then there are accidents and unforeseen medical complications which lead to childhood disability or chronic illness. We may be on the edge of the second Millennium but medicine is not yet an exact science that can correct the problems that face some children in this world.

Living with the possibility that your child has a chronic disability and/or illness can be a daunting task. If it is a rare disorder or an orphan disease it can make the isolation overwhelming. Once again the Internet provides services for parents with these children to connect.

MUMS: National Parent-to-Parent Network is a resource well worth looking into. MUMS has a database of 8,000 families, covering 1,600 disorders, rare syndromes or conditions where they match families to provide them with the tools to "exchange valuable medication information, doctors, clinics and medical resources or research information/programs." MUMS also networks with other organizations around the world, therefore expanding their ability to find other families affected anywhere on the globe - truly embracing that the Net is a Global village. MUMS also has information on medical support groups for several of these medical problems expanding your horizon's even more.

Discovering that your child has a serious medical problem can be a difficult and intimidating task, but MUMS can provide you with the tools to compare notes with other families who have been through the same experience. In some cases they might even be able to match you up with another family in the same geographical area, giving your respective children the opportunity to meet someone else with the same medical condition.

I have found that by meeting others with the same medical condition it takes the mystery and isolation out of dealing with the challenges we must meet on a daily basis. Knowing that another human being shares the same trials that I do and being able to discuss those tribulations sometimes leads to new ways of reaching our personal goals. MUMS can provide you with the tools for your child and your family to attain those goals.

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