My daughter with Rett syndrome will never ride Medusa — and neither will I
At Six Flags, I can turn 'she'll never' into a positive
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If, like me, you have a child with Rett syndrome and an older, neurotypical child, it’s easy to fall into the “she’ll never” cauldron of gloom.
“She’ll never get two MVP awards in high school softball like her older sister.”
“She’ll never earn three college degrees like her older sister.”
“She’ll never get married and have kids like her older sister.”
When you start down this whiny spiral, just tell yourself to shut up. Or slap yourself. Or, like I’ve been doing this summer, take the kid who has Rett syndrome to Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey, where you’ll be able to turn “she’ll never” into something positive.
Six Flags, a hellscape of perverse roller coasters and other rides no chiropractor would ever sanction, is about an hour from where we live. Decades ago, when our older daughter was tall enough to ride the terrifying rides, but didn’t yet have the sense not to, I’d take her there, and it was my parental duty to ride the big coasters with her. I was younger then and could manage the sadistic ones, maybe even came close to enjoying them. But now that I’m well into my Social Security years, I’d prefer a trip on the Titanic to mounting one of those monsters.
What she’ll never do, and what we did
Abby, who has Rett syndrome, is 10 years younger than her sister, and she would sometimes come with us on those long-ago trips to Six Flags and ride the gentle carousel with her mother while her sister and I took on the big nasties. But we hadn’t been back to Six Flags in at least 20 years — until this summer, when the park offered a deal on season passes that was too good to ignore.
I bought a pass for Abby, who is now 29, and a pass for me, figuring that, if nothing else, we could make a few trips to the park just to stroll around amid the hustle and bustle.
Finding things to do with Abby since she graduated from the school system eight years ago has been a struggle, so those passes have proved to be a wise investment. We’ve made four trips to Six Flags so far this summer, enjoyable trips that have gotten her off the couch and into the world.
Walking among the park’s most fearsome attractions brought back memories of riding them with Abby’s sister, but here is where I got to turn “she’ll never” into a good thing. Abby has had spinal fusion surgery to correct scoliosis, and being flipped and jostled at 70 miles an hour is not a good way to keep the rods now serving as her spine in place. Also, some rides require the ability to grip a bar, something Abby can’t reliably do because Rett syndrome deprives those who have it of purposeful hand use.
Abby Genzlinger rides the Ferris wheel at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey, while fearsome roller coasters rise up in the distance. (Photo by Neil Genzlinger)
So, she’ll never ride Medusa, a roller coaster that invites you to “prepare to climb 142 feet before you’re sent reeling down a twisting 132-foot drop at a 55 degree angle.” And since she’ll never ride it, that means I don’t have to ride it either, thank God.
How about The Joker, which brags, “You’ll plummet into a beyond-90 degree drop before shooting back up into the pandemonium for a series of sudden direction changes and flips as you tumble up and down the coaster’s levels.” She’ll never, so neither will I.
Nitro, with its 215-foot drop followed by a 181-foot drop followed by a “totally original hammerhead U-turn”? She’ll never. I’ll never.
We did ride a few rides on our trips this summer — the back-and-forth pirate swing, some benign flying elephants, and, on our most recent trip, the Ferris wheel, which affords a great view of all those menacing rides that, because of Rett syndrome, I won’t have to endure. Off in the distance we saw the skeleton of Bakunawa, a new coaster rising to heart-stopping heights. It opens next year and is being billed as “the fastest and tallest spinning launch coaster in the world.”
“After an exhilarating 382-foot climb to the spire’s peak,” the publicity says, “your spinning train pauses — face-up, face-down or sideways, depending on your luck — before plummeting back down the way you came.”
She’ll never. I’ll definitely never.
Note: Rett Syndrome News is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of Rett Syndrome News or its parent company, Bionews, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to Rett syndrome.
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