"gimme a smile, pretty-pretty! turn that shiat upside-down!"

But he knows that he can't really drive till he's much older, says his mom. ``He knows he can't drive till he's 84.'

Do what now?

This kid sounds sweet. I'm glad he's having a happy Christmas. He'll probably be sad if he ever realizes he won't be able to do things like drive, but at least he will be able to derive joy from things he can do.

That is really cool.

My brother in law is autistic and I hope that he is able to achieve everything that he is capable of. Being a parent of a special needs child is really tough and I'm really happy that this kid was able to have one day when his dream came true, since most days are so hard for him.

Cool story, I'm glad he got to enjoy himself :)

Cool story but left me sad :(

And what makes anyone think this kid may live much longer?

/Tubers in the brain and kidneys aint good.

he was as his mom says ``over the moon.' He'll probably talk about this day till he's 78, she says.

One good thing about retards is they're easy to please.

I always wanted to be the "'mon back!" guy. But, I guess riding shotgun would be my second choice.

i think he had "brain clusters"

I would have asked for a ride in a fire truck, but if it was what he wanted, good that he got it. No bum in the dumpster though.

Approves!

They could have given him a ride in a Ferrari and told him it was a garbage truck.

Quit asking me about Old Lady Semple's Social Security check.

MY LIFE FOR YOU!

Bumpity bumpity buuuump!

What's his Fark handle?

My mom says im special, so Im really getting a kick out of these replies.

/Searches for baseball..........

And now it's make fun of those less fortunate than us time. Enjoy your thread.

I'm glad that this wasn't a story about some kind taking a dumpster ride.

Brain tubers?

It's not a tuber!

sadly, the writer misspelled tumors. the article stated in the 4th paragraph that he had tubers growing. tubers being parts of plants that said plants use for storage

the article was touching in spite of that

If we could somehow channel the mental energy nerds put into open source OSes and use it to make open source hamartin and other proteins, the world would be a better place. Open source biology FTW!

Get Lost
And what makes anyone think this kid may live much longer?

/Tubers in the brain and kidneys aint good.

I DNRTFA until you mentioned this. Tuberous sclerosis. Holy crap, this kid is f*cked. :(

Why can't there be a news channel with stories like this, a positive CNN/Fox?

Good for this kid.

Anyone else think the headline reffered to him riding in the garbage truck? Like... not the cab...

cwolf20: sadly, the writer misspelled tumors. the article stated in the 4th paragraph that he had tubers growing. tubers being parts of plants that said plants use for storage

the article was touching in spite of that

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro99/web2/Zukas.html

Well, maybe he can store excess starch in the tumors...?

cwolf20: sadly, the writer misspelled tumors. the article stated in the 4th paragraph that he had tubers growing. tubers being parts of plants that said plants use for storage

the article was touching in spite of that

Tuberus sclerosis is a neurocutaneous disorder where benign tumors (actually called tubers in this case due to their histopathology) grow in many organs, usually the brain (causing seizures) and kidneys.

Autosomal dominant inheritance but 2/3 of cases are from new mutations. People with it also have ash leaf spots (hypopigmented areas), Shagreens patches, and sometimes "confetti spots." Most have sub-normal IQs, but affected people can have normal intelligence. It doesn't affect life expectancy unless you get a tumor in your heart and it's not picked up. Many people with it have autism, seizures, aggressive behavior, or OCD.

cwolf20: sadly, the writer misspelled tumors. the article stated in the 4th paragraph that he had tubers growing. tubers being parts of plants that said plants use for storage

No, the writer got it right. The benign tumors are called "tubers." From wikipedia:

The name, composed of the Latin tuber (swelling) and the Greek skleros (hard), refers to the pathological finding of thick, firm and pale gyri, called "tubers", in the brains of patients postmortem. These tubers were first described by Désiré-Magloire Bourneville in 1880; the cortical manifestations may sometimes still be known by the eponym Bourneville's disease.

I've met a kid with tuberous sclerosis in the hospital. He was autistic and very mentally retarded. Nothing amused him more than spitting everywhere. His mother was on the verge of tears the entire time and pulled me aside to say, "This is a terrible disease." I wasn't sure how to respond to that.

/Sad

Poor kid has tubers? Maybe they should try Atkins.

that was the hands down funniest article i have ever read. the fact that they said he had the illusion of driving, but wouldn't be able to drive until he was 84 was amazing. The fact that the "subtleties" of the experience were lost on him, was even better, i almost peed a little, although i am sure he peed more.

/Thank you this christmas present.
//Going to hell

Very sad and sweet.

cwolf20: sadly, the writer misspelled tumors. the article stated in the 4th paragraph that he had tubers growing. tubers being parts of plants that said plants use for storage

the article was touching in spite of that

Sadly, we live in an era of instant information access. You could have simply wikied the disease instead of spouting nonsense. Would have taken fewer keystrokes too. There's a lesson in there somewhere.

Quantum Apostrophe: If we could somehow channel the mental energy nerds put into open source OSes and use it to make open source hamartin and other proteins, the world would be a better place. Open source biology FTW!

Have you ever tried to install a release candidate for open source software? We'd need a hell of a lot of rats to work the kinks out of open source biology.

That being said I really wish the government would spend more on things like medical research rather than other pet projects.

Wow, I came in here to read the snarky comments and was pretty shocked at the humanity. This poor kid...

I have a 2-year old niece who has Downs Syndrome, she is an awesome person.

I bet his mother prays for his death every day. Either that, or she has a wicked since of humor:

"But he knows that he can't really drive till he's much older, says his mom. ``He knows he can't drive till he's 84.'"

Quantum Apostrophe
If we could somehow channel the mental energy nerds put into open source OSes and use it to make open source hamartin and other proteins, the world would be a better place. Open source biology FTW!

You are unfamiliar with distributed computing projects such as Folding@Home?

Poor kid. I'm glad to know that he got his Christmas wish.

Props for Allied Waste. Sounds like they did a great job of taking care of the kid's wish. Local branch of another nationwide outfit had an employee fall off the back of the truck and break his ankle. Hospital? Fark you...finish your route first then check in with the office.

of course giving the full word instead of tuber would probably have helped narrow it down. Since I have no problems finding info. however the last time someone said tuber in a medical report for a person in the hospital, they apologized to the family for the typo. And replaced it with tumor

xen0blue: I bet his mother prays for his death every day. Either that, or she has a wicked since of humor:

"But he knows that he can't really drive till he's much older, says his mom. ``He knows he can't drive till he's 84.'"

I doubt she's being humorous or wishing for her child's death. He probably asked when he would be old enough to drive & she likely gave him that answer instead of breaking his heart & telling him he'd never be able to drive. She probably felt he's had enough heartbreak & hardship in his life without unnecessarily adding to it.

Giving him a ride was a great idea, but they never should have let him drive.

That wish stinks.

by the way, I've also learned not to read articles or type in fark topics while buzzed. Surprisingly, i learned it just recently, from this discussion

"Garbage Truck!"

That line is going to be on t-shirts and in Hot Topic by next week.

As someone who likes pie, and whose wife calls me retarded all the time, I got a kick of of that story

/RAWR!
//Sad, but I too am glad the little fella had a good time.

crypticsatellite: Norad: Do what now?

He's never going to drive. He has probably been asking about it and the parents don't want to tell him he's never going to do anything, so they tell him he'll be able to drive when he's 84.

:(

My youngest sister is developmentally delayed and has several physical deformities. My parents have done similar with her. Because she's so short, they tie most everything to her height. I have no idea how they handle things like getting married and having babies, which she is totally determined to do in the future.

cedarpark: That wish stinks.

I lol'd.

Front or back?

hogans: Quit asking me about Old Lady Semple's Social Security check.

MY LIFE FOR YOU!

Bumpity bumpity buuuump!

Wow, we just watched all 4 parts of The Stand last night!

Sad story, hope the boy is happy. Still sad....