Phillip Keen - Profile
<center><img src="http://www.suite101.com/files/topics/9613/files/EZRider.jpg" height=540 width=432></center>
My name is Phillip Keen. I am a 30-year-old resident of Pasadena, Texas. I have a life long genetic disorder/birth defect called Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) from which I have several chronic illnesses and disabilities. Prader-Willi Syndrome is a rarity. It is not very well known. Though it is a rarity, it is one of the most common conditions seen in genetics clinics and is the most common genetic cause of obesity that has been identified. It is estimated that one in 12,000 to 15,000 people has PWS.
I was born on May 27, 1970 at St. Joseph’s hospital in Houston, Texas. I was born about six weeks premature. At the time she had me, my birth mom was single, still in school and could not handle a baby with problems. So I was a foster child the first 4 years or so of my life. There was some kind of clause in my case that permitted me from being adopted any sooner. Though we do not know for certain; however, the guy whom my birth mom was dating at the time was an older guy and was on all kinds of drugs. As soon as he found out she was pregnant, he fled the seen. We speculate this very well could have been the cause of my birth defect.
Though I have most of the common PWS symptoms, characteristics, and problems, I am blessed with many things that are not common with PWS and that many people with PWS would just dream about, as we were fighters. All my life, we literally fought tooth and nail to get me over the various hurtles of life. We were not going to take the typical PWS answer. We were also not going to take “no” for an answer. My education process began when I was about 2½ years old as back then P.I.S.D. had a very good early childhood education program for kids that had developmental problems, learning problems, or were disabled in some fashion or another. We were very fortunate in a number of areas when it comes to my education. First, we were very fortunate that the Pasadena Independent School District at that time was one of the very few school districts that were recognized as being able to work with the disabled and with kids that had learning difficulties. Home schooling was basically unheard of back then in our area. Due to all my sicknesses and all the times that I had to be in and out of the hospitals back then, the Pasadena Independent School District worked very diligently with us and let us do much of my educational process at home. There were many days that I did not feel up to going to school and I could not physically go to school. I was in and out of the hospital so much during my childhood years that we jokingly said that the word “hospital” was our middle name. I did go through all of school and graduated high school. I was in regular classes throughout my entire K – 12th grade school years. I just barely graduated by the skin of my teeth. After graduation in May 1989, I tried going out to San Jacinto Junior College for a semester. College was not for me. During my early childhood years, we had many doctors and rehab technicians working with us. One student optometrist who was studying out at the University of Houston came and lived with us for a number of years and worked diligently with me to get me to seeing better. We went to many doctors and rehab places. We also had many doctors and rehab technicians come to our house and worked with me.
My Dad was a radio electronics avionics technician and corporate pilot for some 35+ years for Panhandle Eastern Corporation. He was gone 90% of the time. So I typically did not have that fatherly figure to look up too. He was typically more or less like a guest in our house when he was in. To this day, my older brother Bobby is like a fatherly figure to us. Not necessarily for me, but he does a whole lot for my Mom. Occasionally he does things for me though.
We have been very active in church all my life. I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ into my life around 7 or 8 years old. Since he became my personal savior, I have not had to be in the hospital nearly as much. Typically about once a year now I have to be hospitalized for something, but even that is slimming down. I was active in the Baptist church until 1998 then I started going to full gospel nondenominational churches. The Lord showed me that there was more to Church than what the Baptist church had to offer. Though the road was a little rocky the first few months or so of me being in the nondenominational church, now I am going to a very fine nondenominational church here in Pasadena called Prevailing Faith Church. Clayton and Jennifer Shepherd are the pastors there. As for Mom and the rest of my family, they are still very active in the Baptist church. I am all the time doing various church activities and ministry projects. There are about 6 churches here in the area that I do some kind of ministry work at.
I have a keen interest in computers. Dad got me into the field. I started working with computers around 1975. Back then you had to literally buy them as kits and build them yourself. Not just any body could get them neither. Part of Dad’s assignment was to test various systems to see which one(s) would be good for the company. Since he was gone most of the time, I was the one that did most of the testing and so forth. Everything I know about computers came through first hand experiences, trial and error, by reading many computer books at the various bookstores and in the library, and by participating in many discussions on electronic computer bulletin boards, message forums, and the usenet newsgroups. When I am not at church or at the computer, I am frequently playing my musical keyboard. I self taught myself how to play that too. I got the basics down in piano lessons, but due to school, I was unable to finish piano lessons. I also learned many of the basics in music class at school. I typically only play hymns and Praise and Worship songs. Essentially now, when I play the keyboard I am still at the computer as I have my keyboard hooked up through the computer. I have a wonderful website with some of the songs I play on the keyboard on it. You will be able to find it in the Links section of this site. I am presently also a volunteer for the Educational Division of Bayshore Medical Center. I run errands, do odd office jobs, and make copies for them. Due to my health though, I am seriously considering giving this up. It is robbing me of my health. I also very much like visiting with my friends and neighbors, going to the mall, to various Christian bookstores, to the Wal-Mart supercenter, and various health food stores around Pasadena. My only source of transportation is an adult non-motorized tricycle, as I cannot drive and Pasadena does not have a public transportation system. I typically ride everywhere. I enjoy riding it too. That is also my main source of exercise too. I essentially ride it all over Pasadena.
We never did have to lock our refrigerator or kitchen cabinets like many PWS people have too. My family was very strict with me regarding food. I was not allowed to freely go into the kitchen. I was allowed a daily 10 A.M. and a 3P.M. snack, and occasionally in the evenings while we were all sitting around watching television or playing games we would fix some popcorn and I could have a bowl of it if I wanted too. In later years, my snacks began to be more like small meals though. I did have the over eating problems, but it was not as bad as most PWS people. Now that I am on my own, I typically keep myself busy so I am not constantly thinking about food.
I need to be going now. There is so much more that I would like to tell about myself, but I am running out of space and I have some other things that I need to do this evening. Please feel free to E-mail me or ask me questions in the discussions area. I am here for you. There is such a need for support for Prader-Willi Syndrome. I was active in the national Prader-Willi Syndrome association mailing list a few years ago, but unfortunately I got banned from it. Since then, I have been looking for a source of support and a discussions place elsewhere and I found none. I had visited some of the other health and disorders related sites here on Suite101.com and when a friend of mine who is also a Suite101.com editor suggested that I become one on the disorder that I have, I grabbed at the opportunity. I hope and pray that you thoroughly enjoy this site and that it is informative to you. See you later; take care, and God Bless.
Best Regards,
Phillip Keen
P.S. Since becoming the Contributing Editor on Prader-Willi Syndrome here at Suite101 I have been able to rejoin the Prader-Willi Syndrome E-mail discussion lists. The internet has really done a whole lot for me. It has really opened up doors for me to communicate things that I would not of been able to communicated before. It has brought me very close to an Aunt of mine that otherwise I would of never of been able to be close to as they both smoke very heavily. With my health problems I cannot tolerate cigarette smoke. It has also brought to me the capabilities to write about different topics. I thoroughly enjoy writing about Prader-Willi Syndome; however, in addition to that I really want to start doing some writings on my passion -- computers. Phillip
Note: I no longer am a Contributing Editor for Suite101. I had unfortunately did some things that I was not supposed to and so I had to resign my Contributing Editor position. Furthermore my health is beginning to fail me greatly. It is becoming increasingly harder for me to sit at the computer for hours on in like I used to do for so long. Phillip