11/6/2009: Willoughby, OH—Youth with CMT Gets Chance to Play FootballThe yellow flags are slung around his waist and the mud coats his shoes and sweatpants. And 11-year-old Spencer Slaght also wears a smile on Saturday mornings.
He gets to play football.
Until this year, Spencer has never been able to play because of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a neurological disorder that causes muscle weakness and atrophy, and a loss of feeling in the hands and below the knees.
The nerve cells that carry electrical messages between Spencer's brain and spine and his muscles and skin are missing key proteins.
Without these, the electrical messages either travel very slowly or at a much-reduced strength. CMT is generally not life-threatening.
CMT makes tackle football too high-risk for Spencer. The solution for the Slaght family was to sign Spencer up for the Lake County Youth Flag Football League.
Spencer gets to play football, but his parents don't have to worry about injury because there is no contact. Doctors have encouraged the Slaghts to have Spencer play sports to combat muscle atrophy.
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