My Story Archives - Michaelmantz

Choking on Water: When Ataxia Affects Swallowing

Michael MantzNovember 10, 2026Ataxia Awareness, My Story, Resilient Voices

We’ve all had that moment when a drink of water goes down the wrong pipe. You start coughing, struggle to catch your breath, and wonder how something so simple can cause so much trouble. Usually, it’s over in a minute or two, and you don’t think much about it afterward. For me, it happens more...

What You See Isn’t Always What Someone Is Living With

Michael MantzOctober 22, 2026Ataxia Awareness, My Story, Resilient Voices

Invisible Disabilities Week 2026 | October 18–24 Last Saturday, my balance was much worse than usual. I’d slept well, and nothing particularly stressful was going on. Living with Ataxia, I’m no stranger to being unsteady on my feet, but this was different. For most of the day, I couldn’t stand without holding on to something....

Awareness Is the Floor, Not the Ceiling

Michael MantzSeptember 25, 2026Ataxia Awareness, My Story, Resilient Voices

What actually changes in your life the day after someone becomes aware of it? I’ve been thinking about that question lately. International Ataxia Awareness Day is coming up, so many of us in the Ataxia community will spend the day doing exactly what the name suggests. We’ll share our stories and try to explain a...

Trunk Instability: Where Your Ataxia Starts Matters

Michael MantzAugust 11, 2026Ataxia Awareness, My Story, Resilient Voices

Most writing about ataxia focuses on the legs. Gait, tripping, falls, the mechanics of walking when your feet don’t quite trust the ground. That’s fair, since it’s the most visible symptom and the one people ask about first. But ataxia doesn’t originate the same way in everyone. For me, the instability isn’t mainly in my...

Living Without a Finish Line: What Spinocerebellar Ataxia Taught Me About Uncertainty

Michael MantzApril 20, 2026Ataxia Awareness, My Story, Resilient Voices

There’s a moment, somewhere between the kitchen and the hallway, where I catch myself paying attention to how I’m walking. Not because anything dramatic happened. Just a slight shift, a half-second of recalibration, and suddenly I’m aware of my feet in a way most people never are. It happens in my own house. A place...

When Head Tremors Return: My Experience with Cerebellar Ataxia and Titubation

Michael MantzApril 11, 2026Ataxia Awareness, My Story

This is Part 2 of my head tremor journey. If you missed the original, you can read it here: Shaking the Silence: My Intense Journey with Head Tremors Almost three years. That’s how long I had gone without an episode. Long enough to wonder, maybe even quietly hope, that they were done with me. They...

The Art of Having a Good Day (Even When It’s Chaotic Out There)

Michael MantzDecember 17, 2025Ataxia Awareness, My Story, Resilient Voices

There’s an art to having a good day. Not a perfect day or a “crushed every goal and left people speechless” kind of day. I mean the kind of day where things go just well enough that you look around at 7 p.m. and think, Yeah… this wasn’t bad. I’ll take it. On paper, that...

The First Fall That Made Me Stop Pretending

Michael MantzOctober 21, 2025Ataxia Awareness, My Story

“Oh no.” That’s all I had time to think as gravity took over. Time slowed in that way it did when you knew what was coming and there was nothing you could do to stop it. A millisecond stretched into forever, a slow-motion movie scene where the outcome was already written. I was six feet...

How Personal Challenges Became a Brand

Michael MantzAugust 26, 2025Ataxia Awareness, My Story

Some of the biggest shifts in life don’t start with a business plan or a marketing strategy. They start with something far more personal. For me, it began with Ataxia. I was born with it. I didn’t know the name until I was 28, but the signs were always there—awkward balance, stiff movements, and those...

Movement That Meets You Where You Are: Rethinking Exercise with Ataxia (and Life in General)

Michael MantzAugust 5, 2025Ataxia Awareness, My Story, Resilient Voices

When you’re navigating exercise with Ataxia, it’s not about perfection—it’s about possibility. Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life.— Naeem Callaway A few months ago, I asked my physical therapist something that had been on my mind for a while: “Is it possible to gain...