JACKSON GRADUATE EARNED HIS EVERY CONGRATULATION

JACKSON -- When Chad Birk graduated from Jackson High School last month, his family threw a surprise party. One-hundred-thirty people showed up to help him celebrate.

Graduating from high school was a big accomplishment for Chad and for his family, friends and people whose lives are affected by muscular dystrophy. Few enough young men like Chad who have Duchenne's muscular dystrophy live to be 18. Because of the disease's debilitating effects, far fewer graduate from high school.

Chad graduated in the top 10 percent of his class.

"A lot don't get to get to this point," says his mother, Donna. "He's done so well."

But Donna's thought when people congratulate Chad on graduating from high school is "If they only knew what he went through to get to that point."

Duchenne's muscular dystrophy only affects males and is the most severe of 40 types of MD. Chad is gradually losing control of his muscle functions. He sees a cardiologist, a lung specialist and a back surgeon. Like one-fourth of the victims of Duchenne's muscular dystrophy, Chad's disease is a result of a mutated gene.

He has used a wheelchair since the fourth grade and has increasingly less use of his hands. Eating has become difficult.

Going to school meant getting up at 5:30 in the morning so he could be there at 8. During his freshman year, Chad took a keyboarding class and a computer class in summer school even though typing had become difficult for him. But he struggled and finished the classes.

"He would not let things go," Donna said. "He didn't have to do that."

She says Chad's attitude and the way he lives have enabled him to endure the hardships.

"I can't change it," he says. "You might as well live as much as you can."

But having the disease is always a struggle.

"Sometimes I have bad days. I kind of get tired of it every so often," he says.

In 1995, Chad's heart failed. He was flown by helicopter to a hospital in St. Louis. Now he must take two medications daily along with baby aspirin.

"If we didn't have those medicines he would not be here," Donna says.

In 1996, Chad was given an assist dog by the make-A-Wish Foundation. But the Labrador named Charity developed allergies and now is living with Chad's grandparents in Colorado.

His parents, Donna and Terry, and his brothers, 17-year-old Josh and 5-year-old Clay, do everything they can for him. In 1992, Josh donated muscle tissue so Chad could have an experimental surgery which ultimately failed.

Donna and Terry must turn Chad over five times each night to ease his breathing.

Friday night they took him to see the Cardinals for the second time this year and he was able to see his favorite player, Mark McGwire slam two home runs.

He has good friends who drive him to the movies.

Chad's one lament is that he can't visit his grandparents in Colorado because his heart can't tolerate altitudes above 5,000 feet.

The determination of Chad and his family has made them role models for others who have been affected by muscular dystrophy. Sandy Ressel first saw Donna Birk at baseball games their sons played in. Chad, who loves baseball, went to all of Josh's games.

Ressel eventually saw the indoor swimming pool the Birks built so Chad could exercise his body. "I thought, How do these people do that?" she recalled.

A few years later, one of her own sons, Philip, was diagnosed with the same disease.

Donna, who Ressel says is "a walking textbook on this disease," was the person she called.

But each child is different and so are their families. Where the Birks pushed because that's what Chad wanted, Ressel and her husband, Stephen, have sought to ease Philip's struggle.

"Our goal for Philip is to be happy," she says.

Philip has been unable to go to school, but knowing Chad has helped him, Ressel said.

"I know it makes him feel that whatever he wants to do he can do. He sees Chad do things he does. I know they're scared."

Ressel is amazed that Chad was able to excel at courses like chemistry because most people with Duchenne's suffer greatly decreased mental abilities.

"I don't know how he was able to do what he did...," she said. "The physical and mental strain of trying to go out in the world and lead a normal life would be so enormously taxing."

Chad is particularly good at accounting and most anything that involves math or science. He would like to attend Southeast Missouri State University but his parents are concerned about the hills, the weather and the school's accessibility. He plans to take Internet classes offered by the University of Missouri in the fall.

His classmates' attitude toward him helped him succeed at high school, Chad said.

"Everybody treated me the same. Otherwise it would have made it a lot more difficult."

Chad has his motto on a small plaque: "Lord, help me to hang in there." Another plaque he keeps close provides the definition of his name: Brave warrior.

Chad doesn't dwell on the problems he was born with.

"I think I'm pretty lucky otherwise," he says. "I have a good family.'