STOCKTON, Ala. — No doubt about it, Patrick Morris likes to keep moving. He is an elder in his church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Atmore. He likes to work on his computer, and has shown others in how to repair the machines. Morris is very good about giving family and friends over-the-phone tech support.

“Others have to be my hands,” explained Patrick.

He goes hunting and fishing with family members.

“Don’t say you caught a fish when using his pole,” chuckled James Morris, Patrick’s father. “He will tell you about it.”

There’s just one difference. Patrick has Duchenne muscular dystrophy. He can’t walk, and relies on a motorized wheelchair to get around. A machine helps him breathe. He also has to undergo manual chest percussion to loosen the secretions in his lungs that he can’t clear.

“I’ve told people that’s cripple abuse,” joked Patrick.

His family and aides have to help him with everything.

Patrick recently celebrated his 30th birthday. Although there are people with MD who have lived into their 40s, reaching this milestone is a testament to his spirit and the good care his family has given him.

“God, and I guess me having faith,” are the reasons Patrick gives for his longevity. “He keeps me strong.”

Patrick is a 2000 graduate of Baldwin County High. At age 18, he went on the ventilator.

“I really didn’t expect to make it past 18,” he said.

Muscular dystrophy is an inherited disease that affects muscles.

According to a National Institutes of Health website, people with MD have a “defective gene for dystrophin (a protein in the muscles).” The disease makes it hard to walk, and eventually may take away control of the hands and arms, too.

Because of the way the illness is inherited, males are more likely to be affected than females. The NIH says that, one out of every 3,600 male infants is affected.

While the disease commonly runs in families, the NIH says that there are cases where the illness arises spontaneously. That is what Patrick’s mother, Sherry Morris, says happened to their family.

Patrick was diagnosed when he was five or six years old.

“He would just keep falling,” said Sherry.

Patrick was a poster child for the local Muscular Dystrophy Association for two years, according to, Sherry. His father says it was in 1987 and 1989.

“I wanted to let people know that this is not the worst that can happen,” said Patrick. “It helps to make people aware of the situation.”

Living in Stockton, the Morris family enjoys hunting and fishing, and Patrick joins right in. Last year, he managed to bag a deer, and it provided food for the family.

“We get them, we eat it,” said Patrick.

The thought of wasting an animal is horrifying for Patrick. He tells of a time when he and his family members were out in the woods and found a carcass that a hunter had obviously shot and then taken from it only a trophy.

“It just made me sick,” Patrick said.

While fishing, he has somebody cast the line. He then places the pole so “the chair can hold it,” and when he feels a bite, someone else reels it in.

He says he’s caught catfish, and once, a six-foot shark.

Because of his medical condition, he could not go on missions as other young people in his church do, but he has offered assistance to them.

“It can be frustrating, but I don’t let it bother me,” he said. “Life’s too short to let something like this bother you.”