through the looking glass - people of the city
25. With his bright orange shirt and his backwards ball cap he doesn't fit in. The only feature that matches the scenario is his blue wheelchair. He looks up from his iPhone with a grin and introduces himself.
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This is Brenden Copper, age 25, living in a long-term care home. He graduated from Monsignor McCoy High School and soon after was diagnosed with progressive multiple sclerosis at 18.
"I just kind of laughed it off, I didn't really know what it meant." For his 19th birthday he had decided to celebrate with a trip to Edmonton, but at the end of the trip couldn't get out of the car. His legs were numb and wouldn't work for him. One of his first struggles with MS.
He shakes a bit as he tells his story, but it's just the MS, inside Brenden is strong and positive.
lderly walk in and out of the lobby, wheelchairs and walkers underfoot while oxygen lines rest under their noses. However, to the right sits a young man of
He says after his 19th birthday things slowly kept going downhill. His symptoms of MS became stronger and more apparent. He's had treatment in Mexico, CCSVI in Rhode Island and chemotherapy back in Canada. Nothing helped for long. His energy started to deplete and walking was getting harder.
"Three or four years ago my MS specialist said there's nothing we can do for you, just go live your life." A sentence that left him hanging. His MS was progressing and doctors couldn't do anything. Then after a stint in the hospital Brenden was seen as incapable of living alone and moved into Masterpiece, a retirement home, in June 2012 at age 23.
Brenden asserts that the staff and building are great, but he knows he doesn't belong here. He lost the freedom many crave at his age.
He loves to cook, but now eats whatever they serve him.
"We have no choice for food unless you sweet talk
them...guilty." Brenden laughs. He is bright and cheerful, but
warns that he might get choked up. Something he truly has no reason to apologize for.
Instead of being surrounded with people starting their lives he is surrounded by those preparing for the end.
"I'm really not trying to make any friends around here, let's face it, they're here to live out the last part of their lives." Retirees, some with dementia or Alzheimer's, make up the majority of the residents. Staff are younger, but as Brenden says, they are here for work, this is their jobs not their lives.
Brenden gets to leave the building when he arranges a ride or gets his worker to take him out, but outside doesn't provide much comfort. Society, often misunderstanding, is not welcoming.
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"Society treats us like Lepers," says fellow MS resident, Darcy Denman. At 54 years old he has been in Masterpiece for a decade and chokes up when he talks about it.
"I hate it, I just hate it." Not a cry against the building or its staff, but at the situation. Darcy and Brenden are both too young to be spending everyday in a home meant for retired citizens.
"I want out of here. Some staff are great, but there's nothing they can do for you," Darcy says.
"They can try to make us feel at home, but we're not there," Brenden says.
Brenden says he normally wakes up, does a little working out and then goes for a shower. Seems like a typical morning, except most 25-year-olds don't have to sign a waiver to shower themselves. With no lock on the door Brenden has little privacy. After his shower he watches some television, but says not much goes on after that.
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When asked if he thinks it will ever feel like home Brenden said, "I hope not."
"It's not what a 25-year-old or a 54-year-old should be doing." With no cure and no real understanding of
Brenden Copper, 25, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of 18, shortly after graduating high school. Copper has been living at Masterpiece River Ridge, an assisted living residence, for two years and says it can be isolating not being around people his own age.
multiple sclerosis the pair cannot yet see a way out.
"I'd love to work again, all these people that can work, but don't drive me nuts." With his mobility problems as well as the effect MS has on his motor skills it makes it almost impossible for Brenden to work. His charm, style and interests are on par with his age unlike his living arrangements. Like most young men Brenden is proud of his truck. Although he is unable to drive, his Chevy still sits at his mom's house. Vehicles may seem like material wants, but it's a symbol of freedom and mobility, things one rarely has to part with until they are older than 65.
A television, a single bed, a dresser and a bathroom make up Brenden's living space. He has a Playstation 4, but only one game. He makes the best of his situation, but MS has taken from him what so many take for granted.
"A cure would be lovely," he smiles. Until that time a facility for young adults would be ideal he says, one with separate apartments and more freedom, something that does not seem to be on the horizon. In the meantime, Brenden will spend everyday bringing life to a place that is always prepared to let it go. ■
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