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When Danielle was two years old the Luna’s had a second daughter, Chloe. Shortly after turning two, Danielle quit functioning normally. She quit eating, sleeping, talking, and had basically regressed back to behaving as an infant. She was diagnosed with PDD NOS, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified. Autism is a form of PDD, and there are five types of PDD’s, the most common one being PDD NOS.
Shortly after diagnosis, the Luna family was told that Chloe had about a 20 percent chance of also developing PDD. Some time later they were told it was actually a 20 percent chance that she would remain normal functioning.
At age two, Chloe was also diagnosed with PDD and the Aspberger’s syndrome form of autism. The Lunas also have a son, Caden, who has PDD and a form of autism called Chiari. The children, now ages seven, five and three, attend Chandler Elementary and are also in therapy three times per week.
“It can be overwhelming at times,” Sonya said, “but you have to always look at the brighter side of things and keep humor involved. This is really all we have ever known, this is ‘normal’ for us.”
Turning to running
When John is not helping Sonya out with their three children, he is patrolling around Victoria as a member of the Victoria Police Department. John began running approximately four years ago to lose some weight.
His first race was the 2006 Living in the Light 5k and he came back to run it again in 2007. As much as he likes running the 5k, it didn’t provide quite the challenge he was looking for.
“I had read both books by Lance Armstrong and became really inspired by the book ‘Ultra Marathon Man’ by Dean Karnazes,” John said. “I wanted to try a distance that would challenge me both mentally and physically.”
He had been contemplating running an ultra-marathon for about a year and gave it a shot in February. He completed the Rocky Raccoon 50-Miler in Huntsville in a time of 12 hours, 22 minutes.
“At mile 30 I hit a mental wall and I told myself ‘You are going to finish even if you have to crawl across the line,’” he said.
John has continued with his training and ran the Hog’s Hunt 50K on April 5 in a time of 6 hours, 50 minutes.
“After reading Lance Armstrong’s book, my mantra is ‘pain is only temporary, quitting is forever,’” John said.
John’s goals include running a 100-mile trail run in the next three years and he would really like to get a spot to run in the Western States 100-mile endurance run.
Sonya began running about a year and a half ago. At that time, John had already been running for a few years.
“I saw that John could do it and I thought if he can do it, then I can do it.”
She initially started exercising to lose some weight and began her exercise regimen with just walking. She gradually worked her way up to jogging by jogging 4 minutes and walking 1 minute. She can now run continuously for 19 minutes, and then will walk for 1 minute before beginning to run again.
In thetime she began running, Sonya has lost seventy pounds and has also acquired a love for running in road races.
Her first race was the 2007 Living in the Light 5k, where she finished in a time of 33:00. She has now run five additional races and has improved her time to 28:03 for the 5k.
A few weeks ago she ran her first 10-mile road race completing the distance in a time of 1 hour, 55 minutes.
“Running allows for me to have some ‘me’ time,” Sonya said. “Even if it is running on our home treadmill late in the evening. Running has given me more energy to deal with the physical and mental demands of raising our children.”
Sonya would like to see more events like the Living in the Light 5K be put on here in Victoria as it is sometimes tough to get out of town with the three kids in tow.
“We usually take them with us. One of us watches the kids while the other one runs the race,”Sonya said. “The kids like to yell ‘go Momma go’ or ‘Go Daddy go.’”
Sonya has continued to stay motivated to prove to her and others that she can do it. Her goals for this year include running in the San Antonio Half-Marathon in November 2008.
Handling Life as a Team
In my conversations with John and Sonya, I realized one very important aspect to how they handle everyday life. They work as a team.
“God gave us three autistic children because he knew we could handle it,” John said. We get to relive our childhood through our children each day, and even if we show them something one week, the next week we usually get to do it over again.”
When John and Sonya finish a race, the kids are there cheering them on, even though Sonya and John usually finish somewhat back of the lead runners. It is apparent that in this story John and Sonya Luna are indeed winners by showing the rest of us what true dedication, perseverance, and strength are all about.
Missy Janzow is the running and fitness columnist for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-574-1206 or sports@vicad.com.