Martyn Sibley's answers

Martyn Sibley

Martyn Sibley lives in the UK. He has Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). However, he has a Masters degree, has travelled as far as Australia, drives his own car and lives independently in London.

He is a blogger, entrepreneur, speaker, creator of disability webinars, master of disability e-courses, co-editor of online magazine http://disabilityhorizons.com/ and a cheeky chap! Through his blog, Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools; Martyn discusses work, leisure, travel, care, relationships and life generally.

The pieces of the amber...or living with SMA.

After staying at home during many years I see my life like a  scene from a movie. When someone is falling from a huge cliff and the very last moment has a  luck to catch a dry, dead bush hanging not too far from the edge.  Sure, it isn't very comfortable to hang there as a pear but it's much  better than to lie on the bottom of this abyss. Making a little effort  it's possible to see normal people's life and from time to time  some of them come closer to talk about their problems. They sit down  on the edge dangling their legs down and start telling what a hard life they have. Of course I haven't all diversity of their  problems (love affairs, kids, work, travels), my only one is to be able hold myself hanging.

Russian cartoon "Masha and Bear"

Merry Christmas to everyone! And here is a small part of my favorite Russian cartoon "Masha and Bear". No need to translate the song...sure it's about holiday.

The making of Claire Bear by Karen Wheeler

This painting was started in January 2011 and completed in June 2011. Incredibly alive image.

The genealogy.

My great-grandfather Timophey...before 1917 year.

A  far relative has found me suddenly. He lives in Moscow and he tries to  build  our  family  tree just like me. Our great-grandfathers were brothers and their father had 10 children. A lot of people to find! ;-) I'm  just  curious about old times and it's interesting to see unknown people's  faces  knowing  that  we have the same ancestors. My closest relatives  don't  understand such strange hobby. Why wasting my forces and  time  not for earning my living but useless things. But I'm not a robot who is created only for work. At least something pleasant should be.

Folic acid

Folic acid (also known as vitamin B9) is not biologically active, but its biological importance is due to tetrahydrofolate and other derivatives after its conversion to dihydrofolic acid in the liver.
Vitamin B9  is needed to synthesize DNA, repair DNA, and methylate DNA. It is especially important for people with SMA. Children and adults both require folic acid to produce healthy red blood cells and prevent anemia.

Dreams.

Every summer I spent at my table painting for days one picture after another. Usually it lasted about two weeks and a thick album was full of my attempts to relax. It was so charming process to put the paints on the paper and wait what kind of image would appear. If my sisters were great in copying so I was on the contrary  unable to create something enough close to the original, it was easier to use my imagination than any real things or images. While painting I felt absolutely free to invent a story about those people who appeared from the brush. My mother told, " Again your dolls!" I just traveled in time and painting a woman in the ancient dress pretended to see all her life. National costumes also gave me a possibility to look into the other people's life with different customs and traditions. Lack of alive people around me crowded my pictures over norm.