Personal Achievement Award for Missouri from Muscular Dystrophy Association
Special to The American
Romanda Walker of St. Louis has received the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s 2009 Robert Ross Personal Achievement Award for Missouri.
Walker, 30, was selected for the honor because of her unwavering determination in setting and achieving personal and professional goals, and for her advocacy for people with disabilities.
Walker will accept the award during the local broadcast of the 2009 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon on Sept. 6 and 7 on KSDK Channel 5.
Initiated in 1992, the national awards program recognizes the accomplishments and community service of people with disabilities caused by any of the diseases in MDA’s program.
Walker has spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a progressive disease that causes weakness in muscles closest to the center of the body, such as those of the shoulders, hips, thighs and upper back.
Walker has had SMA symptoms since she was a baby. She uses noninvasive ventilation to assist in breathing and a power wheelchair to maintain mobility.
Walker earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology at the University of Missouri in Columbia and is close to completion of her doctorate in bio informatics. She has received several awards for her involvement in helping people with disabilities, and recently was initiated into the Rollins National Honor Society at the University of Missouri for her service to the disability community on campus and the surrounding areas.
Walker also was named Ms. Wheelchair Missouri 2008 and awarded the title of 1st runner-up at the National Ms. Wheelchair USA competition.
She also dedicates time to helping MDA, attending clinic and helping raise awareness and funds for programs and events, and serving as a role model and mentor to young people served by the association.
“I’m proud to announce Romanda Walker as Missouri’s Robert Ross MDA Personal Achievement Award recipient for 2009,” MDA President & CEO Gerald C. Weinberg said.
“Romanda’s impressive achievements are a fine example of the vital contributions being made by people with muscle diseases in communities across the country.”
Walker was chosen for the 2009 Robert Ross Personal Achievement Award by MDA’s Mississippi Valley Chapter and then was named Missouri’s award recipient.
One state award recipient will be selected to receive MDA’s national 2010 Robert Ross Personal Achievement Award. The national honoree will be announced on the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon on Labor Day weekend, Sept. 6-7.
The state winner in Mississippi – Gregory Smith, 45, of Ocean Springs, Miss. – also is African-American.
Smith, who has Becker muscular dystrophy, is a motivational speaker, author of On a Roll: Reflections from America’s Wheelchair Dude with the Winning Attitude, and subject of the PBS award-winning documentary film, On a Roll: Family, Disability and the American Dream. Smith has produced disability awareness public service announcements that aired across the state of Mississippi and on the internet. He fondly remembers attending MDA summer camp as a child and dedicates time to MDA, attending clinic and helping raise awareness and funds by participating in MDA programs and events.
The awards are named in honor of Robert Ross, MDA’s longtime chief executive, who died in June 2006. Ross created the Personal Achievement Award program to educate the public that disability is no obstacle to accomplishment.
MDA is the nonprofit health agency dedicated to curing muscular dystrophy, ALS and related diseases by funding worldwide research. The Association also provides comprehensive health care and support services, advocacy and education. It maintains a clinic at Washington University School of Medicine.
You can view photos of all the 2009 Robert Ross Personal Achievement Award winners at www.mda.org/commprog/paa/.