Noonan Syndrome (NS)
Support Group Introductions

Blatchley, Chuck and Sherry (as at 12/97)

We currently live in S.E. Kansas after spending 10 years in the Boston area. Chuck chairs the Department of Physics at Pittsburg State University, and Sherry has consulted for a number of years in medical practice management. Our 23 year old son, Michael, has been diagnosed with both Noonan's and Asperger's syndromes. He has had two open heart procedures, one of the first successful pulomonary valvulotomies at age 10 days, and a second more involved operation at age 5 1/2. He developed scoliosis in his teens, went through a series of ineffectual braces, and finally had a nine-hour spinal fusion.

Many of the learning difficulties described on the list seem characteristic of Michael as well. When he was in the recovery room (Ochsner clinic in New Orleans) following his second surgery at age 5, he regained consciousness in front of a corner window that viewed a remarkable thunderstorm over the bend in the Mississippi river. He has been obsessive about meteorology ever since and is currently delighted by chasing severe storms through tornado alley. Although he has never mastered the concept of number, he is quite adept with a computer and changes our background screen daily to a recently downloaded radar image or forecast map.

Regards,

Chuck Blatchley

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