Angelman Today January / February edition 2014 | Page 24

Angels in Action
Celebrating the Abilities of our Angels
By Angela Humble Tucker, Mom to Lukas age 15
are left with many tough choices and
those choices are greatly impacted
further when you have a child with a
disability. We made a decision on
June 23rd to take away our sons
wheelchair and just encourage him to
walk and not rely on this chair any
longer. At this time he was only able
to walk about 20 steps before
needing to rest.

It’s hard to believe that we have a 15
year old son. Our son does not do all
the typical things that a 15 year old
would be doing such as video
games, hanging out with friends,
talking on the phone (or I guess
texting), or competing in High School
sports. Instead we have a 15 year
old boy who has Angelman
Syndrome which brings with it
limitations such as non-verbal,
limited mobility, cognitive delays, and
more issues that would take up too
much space to list.
Our 15 year old boy Lukas however
smiles more than a typical 15 year
old boy! Lukas is a 10th grader at
Shakopee High School and is a
brother to a one year old Brody.
Lukas enjoys people, being out in
the community (everyone knows his
name), and has a hug desire to help
others. Overall he is a great kid who
has been dealt with many
challenges.
Our lives changed greatly June 23rd
2006 in more ways that I can
express at this time. As parents we

Back in 2005 our son Lukas had
surgery to release the tendons in the
back of his legs in an effort to get him
walking. Lukas had never walked
despite efforts of Botox, therapy, and
encouragement. This was essential
our one shot at getting him up and
about. With the success of the
surgery and lots of hard work we
decided to just take away the chair
and never look back. As parents I
think we can say we got this one
right!! Our 8 year old boy at the time
learned to experience life in a whole
new way.
It was not an easy road to get Lukas
to walk successfully there have been
many bumps, bruises and arguments
along the way. In 2008 we begin to
get Lukas involved in as many
activities that we could find to keep
him moving and motivated. He
started to play for the West Metro
Miracle League baseball. What a
great opportunity for him to interact
with others and to learn to be active.
I remember the first couple of years
Lukas played baseball once he made
it to home base he looked at the
crowd and clapped his hands as in a

way for him to communicate to the
fans to cheer for him. The first few
years it would take him a while to get
around the bases. Now with some
encouragement we can get a little run
out of him. Lukas has been playing
for the Miracle League for the last six
years. He can now hit the ball without
a tee. I highly recommend this
program if you have one in your
neighborhood it’s been life changing
for Lukas.

A few years ago I signed Lukas up for
soccer through the adaptive soccer
program at the school district and he
played for one year. There were too
many rules for Lukas to play in the
program. After working with our local
soccer association we found out that
Minnesota has a Top Soccer program
for kids with different disabilities. Top
Soccer does not have as many rules
and different activities to meet the
needs for each player. The soccer
association and I brought this to our
city and Lukas is now a soccer player
as well. He has been playing soccer
for the last 3 years.