Former Ms. Wheelchair Tennessee Andrea Klein uses position as platform

Ms. Wheelchair Tennessee 2017 Andrea Klein

Name: Andrea Klein

Age: 42

Hometown: Cleveland, Tenn.

Occupation: Business Analyst for Life Care Centers of America

For Andrea Klein, life is all about perspective - and keeping it positive. Diagnosed at age 5 with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, her symptoms weren't as severe as others' with the diagnosis. She was able to walk much longer than even her own doctors told her would be possible. Having used a wheelchair now for three years, she doesn't lament the loss of her legs' mobility, focusing instead on the "mobility and freedom" her wheelchair provides.

Her wheelchair also helped her land a platform to educate others about the importance of being a self-advocate when it comes to their health. Using her title of Ms. Wheelchair Tennessee 2017 and the opportunities it provided over the past year, Klein hopes other families don't have to experience tragedy to find a silver lining. Her advocacy earned her a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ms. Wheelchair organization.

Though she handed the state crown over to 2018 winner Lindsey Becker, from Franklin, in late September, Klein's message doesn't have a time limit.

Her early childhood diagnosis was wrong, and it cost her sister her life.

In Andrea's Words:

Because I had the same symptoms she had at my age and she had all the testing once she got her diagnosis they kind of diagnosed me by default. I was 40 before I got in writing my [actual] genetic diagnosis. It's kind of crazy, but not at all uncommon for today.

I was really skeptical about my [initial] diagnosis. I knew [I had] a form of muscular dystrophy, but everyone else with limb-girdle was worse off. Losing my sister like that from respiratory failure gave me more desire to know exactly what it was [that I had]. It also informed me of what other complications could develop.

She was 38, and actually died on my 33rd birthday.

It just really caught my whole family off-guard. We were completely uneducated [respiratory failure] was even a possibility for muscular dystrophy patients.

[Ms. Wheelchair Tennessee] is not a beauty pageant; it's based on advocacy and education. They're looking for the most accomplished and articulate spokeswoman for people with disabilities in the state.

I felt I had a really strong passion about my platform and I felt like I really had a powerful platform speech. I just felt I wanted to do my best. I knew if I won, I could make a difference because I had such a drive to. I had never been in any kind of competition at all. I was really just wanting to make a difference and share my platform: to educate and raise awareness about breathing-muscle weakness and really advocate for self-awareness.

A lot of individuals living with muscular dystrophy don't even realize the disease can go on to affect those muscles. So many physicians don't understand it and try to treat it as if it's lung disease.

If it's treated wrong, depending on how wrong, it can be a life-or-death matter. That's what pushed me: I knew my platform had life-or-death implications.

I only know one pulmonologist in the state of Tennessee that specializes in this.

You have to be able to self-advocate, to speak up on your behalf to ensure you get appropriate care. Of course, if you don't know what the best care is, you can't really be your own advocate - that's a big piece of my platform, too.

That's why I created Breathe with MD, to keep [my sister's] story alive and hopefully keep other families from going through this.

My mom struggled the most with her grief, but after several years she came to a place where [she said], "I really feel like she died so you could figure out this issue and have a purpose to get this message out." It took me years to accept what Mom was saying was probably true; that's probably what God's purpose was in this.

Even if it's not disabling - if it's diabetes or some form of heart condition that's not going to affect you that much - you take on the burden with that diagnosis that you have to know as much as you can about it. I'm not saying doctors don't know their stuff, but take some personal responsibility so if someone is not doing the right thing or not doing anything, you can speak up.

I've seen so many examples where the outcome is so different if you don't advocate for yourself, whether that be advocating for medical care or advocating for resources.