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Sam Berns

Sam Berns had progeria, a rare aging disease. He achieved academic honors in high school but couldn't march with the band due to his progeria. This occupational marginalization was overcome when his family customized a lighter snare drum allowing him to play. Throughout his life, Berns focused on what he could do rather than what he couldn't. Surrounding himself with supportive family and friends who gave him purpose, he strived to keep opening new opportunities and moving forward despite challenges.

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Marc Alen Porlaje Datuin
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755 views1 page

Sam Berns

Sam Berns had progeria, a rare aging disease. He achieved academic honors in high school but couldn't march with the band due to his progeria. This occupational marginalization was overcome when his family customized a lighter snare drum allowing him to play. Throughout his life, Berns focused on what he could do rather than what he couldn't. Surrounding himself with supportive family and friends who gave him purpose, he strived to keep opening new opportunities and moving forward despite challenges.

Uploaded by

Marc Alen Porlaje Datuin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1. Who is Sam Berns? What health condition does he have?

What is the health


condition all about?

 Just before his passing on January 10, 2014, Sam Berns was a Junior at
Foxboro High School in Foxboro, Massachusetts, where he achieved highest
honors and was a percussion section leader in the high school marching band.
He also achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America. Sam
was diagnosed with Progeria, a rare, rapid aging disease, at the age of 2. He is
featured in the Emmy award-winning documentary Life According to Sam,
which premiered on HBO on October 21, 2013, 2 days before his 17th birthday.
 Sam Berns have a rare disease which is called Progeria.
 Progeria- is a very rare disease and in the year of 2013 it affects about 350 kids
worldwide, it affects tight skin, lack of weight gain, stunted growth and heart
disease.
2. What do you think are the forms of occupational injustices that Berns could have
experience in his life? Explain.

 For me, I think the occupational injustices that are related to Sam Berns’
condition are occupational imbalance and occupational marginalization.
Occupational imbalance, because of Sam’s situation that he is only weighing 50
pounds or about 22 when converted to kilograms, and because of that he might
have too little occupations to do and Occupational marginalization also because
of having a lack of gaining weight, he might also be excluded in other
occupation, for example, his dream to play snare drum in the Foxboro High
School Marching Band, but the snare drum weigh about 40 pounds so he
couldn’t carry it, turns out that he didn’t march with the band and ends out
playing a pit percussion during the show that he felt devastated.
3. What did Sam Berns do in order to overcome such occupational injustices?

 In the situation that he ends out playing a pit percussion, his family and him
hired an engineer to design a customized snare drum that would be lighter and
easier to carry, just to achieve his dream which is playing snare drum while
marching. He doesn’t think all the time the obstacles that he is facing because
he wants to overcome it no matter what. And he doesn’t care of the things he
can’t do with his Progeria disease because he replaced it by thinking of the
things he can do, activities that he is passionate about. He also surrounds
himself to the people he wanted to be with, such as his family, relatives and
friends. These people give him positive influences and as a return he wants to
give them positive influences as well. And the last is to keep moving forward,
open new opportunity and do things new, because he wants to strive more to
keep his life richer and he knows that all of these things will make his future
bright that he can get through the difficult time he is experiencing.

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