Allen Francis is a New York City native, graduate from Marymount Manhattan College, and a former college advisor. He writes from his experience of having a twin brother, Aaron, who has been afflicted with myasthenia gravis (MG) since 1999. From his perspective of a loving sibling, Allen wants to learn more about MG and advocate for more awareness about the rare and medically unknown condition. Allen is also a lifelong comic book fan dedicated to launching his own company writing comic books with his twin.
I started traveling as a backpacker when I was 19 years old, back in the 1990s. I spent a semester studying in London in 1997. As a naive kid from the South Bronx in…
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Sometimes we say so much about unimportant things that we leave the important things unsaid. Or, we talk about important things using codes or euphemisms. After all, some studies suggest that more than…
One thing that always amazes me about my twin brother, Aaron, is his drive to stay as positive and active as possible. Aaron was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis (MG) in 1999 at the…
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A quote attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, says, “You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.” In other words, no matter how much we…
Author Jane Austen once wrote, “Those who do not complain are never pitied.” I was a mediocre English major in college. I won’t tell you I adored “Pride and Prejudice,” but I’ve always remembered…
My twin brother, Aaron, has always been a fitness nut. When we were teenagers, he routinely invited his girlfriend at the time to come over and exercise with him. Exercise videos on VHS tapes…
Inside every person we know is another part of them we don’t know anything about. As adults, we often hide our pain, either out of pride or to spare others from worrying. My twin…
My fraternal twin brother, Aaron, who was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis (MG) 25 years ago, underwent surgery last week to correct his crossed eyes, or strabismus, and double vision. I’m glad to report…
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