SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio-based nonprofit that teaches job skills to persons with disabilities held a graduation ceremony Friday afternoon at the Omni Hotel. One of Job Adventures scheduled speakers, Nicholas Morales, became disabled after he was struck with a rare illness nine years ago.
"(I was) completely bedridden. I wasn't able to go to middle school," said 18-year-old Nick Morales, who graduated from Johnson High School in June.
His sister Laura talked about just how rare her brother's condition is.
"Stiff person syndrome, it’s a very rare disease. It affects one in a million people, which is, he's one in a million," Laura said.
Nick said at first everyone was afraid because no one knew what it was.
"All my neurologists had it mistaken for epilepsy. They were doing random treatments on me, MRIs, CAT scans, believing it was some weird case of epilepsy," Nick said.
Stiff person syndrome is characterized by fluctuating rigidity and stiffness of limb muscles with excruciating pain and indescribably heightened anxiety.
"Very painful, with terrible muscle spasms," Nick said. "I was completely stuck in the house scared of the outside world.”
Nick’s sister said the neurologists were initially at a loss. Stiff person syndrome is said to be so rare that a neurologist might see only one to two cases in their entire career.
"For six months, he was in the ICU. The doctor said he was going to die," Laura said.
Although stiff person syndrome patients typically have a poor quality of life and often suffer from other comorbidities, Nick didn't let that hold him back. He sought job skills training through Job Adventures.
“A job is something that people should cherish," Nick said. "I'm not one of those employees that says, 'Oh work, I should just miss it for the day.' I look forward to just going there and working every single day.”
Nick said he has plans to attend San Antonio College and study business management.
For more information on stiff person syndrome or Job Adventures, visit the links below: