The Clark siblings (left to right): Brookanne, Tommy and Jeffrey.
By Krista Smith ’09
Aggie Rings already glitter on the right hands of Brookanne Clark and her brother Tommy. Brookanne, Class of 2004, left A&M after graduation for a job as a teacher in Dallas. Tommy began law school earlier this year after graduating in 2005 with a degree in sports management. The pair’s younger brother, Jeffrey, will soon have a Ring of his own, especially since he has plans to graduate early.
The accomplishments of the Clark siblings weren’t supposed to happen. Doctors told Tom and Olivia Clark that their three children, now ages 26, 25 and 19, respectively, wouldn’t survive into adulthood.
The memory remains clear in Olivia’s mind, and even after 26 years, it still brings tears to her eyes. She is sitting in a doctor’s office with Tom, and the pediatrician is seated across from the couple, delivering the results of nearly two months of tests completed on their infant daughter, Brookanne. The Clarks’ baby girl had not been able to do normal motor behaviors that were expected of a 9-month-old. And now, the words coming out of the doctor’s mouth are unfathomable.
“It was a few days after her first birthday,” Olivia said. “They told us she had spinal muscular atrophy and wouldn’t survive past 2. Little research was being done at the time on the disease, and they told us to just take her home and love her.”
But this wasn’t even the worst of the news the pediatrician had for the Clarks. Any baby conceived after Brookanne had a 50 percent chance of developing the same disease. Olivia was already pregnant with the couple’s second child, a baby boy who, in about a year, would share the disease with his older sister.
After the birth of Tommy, Olivia said, she and Tom decided to stop having children. But their youngest son, Jeffrey, had other plans. Like his older siblings, he too was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy—a disease that did not run through the families of Tom or Olivia—when he was 9 months old.
Spinal muscular atrophy is a form of muscular dystrophy and exists in four types. The Clarks were diagnosed with Type 1, also called Werdnig-Hoffmann Disease–the most severe form.
“The message goes from their brain to their spinal column all right, but when the nerves try to send the message to their muscle, it doesn’t work quite right,” Olivia explained. “Their muscles are a lot weaker than ours, and it’s harder for them to do everything that we do daily because they don’t have the muscle strength.”
The Clark family has fought through innumerable medical traumas over the years. Because of the respiratory problems and other complications that come along with spinal muscular atrophy, each of the trio has had a brush with death. But it is Tommy who has scared Tom and Olivia the most. Olivia said she has lost count of how many times the family has almost lost him, with the most recent occurring in January when Tommy’s lung collapsed while he was at law school in Houston.
Regular activities that able-bodied people take for granted are nearly impossible for the Clarks. Each cannot walk, and even the simplest actions, like brushing teeth, are beyond their physical capabilities. But despite what could have been a devastating diagnosis, Tom and Olivia raised their children deal with their disease and not to be controlled by it.
“We raised them that they’re not different from anyone else,” Olivia said. “We have taught them that their disability isn’t a disability, just an irritation we deal with. Friends say they are so normal compared to everyone else that after a while they don’t even see the wheelchairs.”
Despite the Clarks’ physical limitations, each is talented academically. All three graduated from Burkner High School in Dallas and all three are sports fanatics—a trait that was passed on from their parents, who both worked as coaches in the Richardson school district before their retirement.
It was a close family friend who led the Clark trio to A&M. Brookanne had to choose a college, and the friend, who was an Aggie, filled Brookanne’s ears with tales of tradition and spirit.
“I made my decision pretty early on when I was young,” Brookanne said. “It was just the spirit of school. And I knew if I needed anything, I was in the right hands.”
Brookanne began school the following spring. It took her longer than others to complete assignments and take tests, but it was the acceptance of the Aggie community that made Brookanne comfortable in Aggieland.
“One time, there was a class I couldn’t get to, and they moved the class, but I didn’t really do things differently than other students,” she said. “My parents told us growing up that we could do things other people did, but we just get around differently. It wasn’t made a big deal, and everyone was OK with it.”
The Clarks were already making many trips to College Station for sporting events, so it came as no surprise that Tommy, a sports nut, decided to follow his big sister to A&M.
“There was never a question of the boys going anywhere else,” Olivia said, laughing.
To earn his degree in sports management, Tommy had to complete a sports internship. He sent out applications to teams across the country, but it was friend John Elway, the former Denver Broncos quarterback, who called Tommy for a job with his arena football team, the Colorado Crush.
Tommy was 4 years old when he met John for the first time at a Nestle’s function in Dallas. Elway was impressed with Tommy’s Denver Broncos gear, and gave Tommy his address so Tommy could write him.
“Growing up, he became less of an athletic hero of mine and more of a friend and someone I admired as a person,” Tommy said. “Today, he’s still a good friend of mine, but he has also become a mentor to me professionally. I can go to John for advice any time, and I know my friendship with him and his confidence in me will give me opportunities I might not have otherwise.”
Shortly after his sister graduated and secured a second-grade teaching job in the Richardson school district, Jeffrey too made the decision to become an Aggie. He will graduate in 2009 and hopes to someday own his own business.
Besides Tommy’s recent health issues—he is taking a hiatus from law school to fully recuperate—the Clarks are also battling the Medicaid system. Brookanne resigned her job in January because her earnings were too high to secure Medicaid coverage. Even though it is another hurdle thrown at them, Olivia is confident that her children will continue to lead normal, successful lives.
“They have worked hard, and we’re really proud of them,” Olivia said with tears in her eyes. “You see people that have challenges in their lives and throw everything away and you just want to shake them. But they’ve overcome a lot, and they’ll make it.”
Though the Clarks’ lives have been nothing short of miraculous, it is Tommy who says it is not as surprising as one would think since the Clarks have always lived by faith.
“I have faith in each of my family members to accomplish whatever they set their minds on and I have that same faith in myself,” he said. “More importantly, I have faith in God that He will take care of me and lead me to where I’m supposed to be as long as I ask him to show me His will and I follow it. It sounds simple but, I just try to focus on each day as it comes because that is all we are promised.”
Krista Smith ’09 is a student communications assistant at The Association of Former Students. To contact her, e-mail at KSmith09@AggieNetwork.com.