The God Given Journey

I believe that everyone on the planet has a story to share with the world. Some are about miracles and some are about tragedies. Some are about faith while others are about desperation. Some are about love and some are about broken bridges. I could go on and on comparing opposites but my point is every story is different, and every last one has some type of underlying wisdom. I know not everyone is willing to share their story, and to me, that's a tragedy in it of itself but it will make me feel better if you give me a portion of your time and allow me to share with you my own story and maybe one day I'll get lucky and be blessed with the opportunity of returning the favor.

I am my parents firstborn which means for the first time my parents were able to claim a human being, a baby girl to be more specific, as their own. You can imagine the typical scene, a young woman laying in the hospital bed with a newborn baby in her arms, with her husband standing next to her. A close relative is holding a camera near by and smiles can be found all around the room. I am told that I had an overall, calm and happy demeanor as an infant, what some would describe as a good baby. The earliest sign of any reason for concern was when I started walking. I was limping, sure a lot of kids do at first but my limp persisted. I was probably about a year old when my mom saw the need to make a doctor's appointment. Pediatrician after pediatrician told her stuff like "it's a phase, she'll grow out of it" or "you're a new mom, there's no need to worry". Like the great mother she is, she never gave up. I was in Preschool before mom found a pediatrician that took her seriously but better late than never right? I still remember the first time I went to Dr. Kluppel. The lobby was decorated in trains and the office had a regular door and a kiddie door. I don't remember what happened in the examination room but I know he wrote a referral for me to see an orthopedist by the name of Dr. Brock. Dr. Brock examined my legs and ran a lot of tests including a CAT scan with Disney princess stickers on the machine. At the end of all the testing the results confirmed that I have a mild form of a disability called Cerebral Palsy. Google defines Cerebral Palsy, or CP for short as a condition marked by impaired muscle coordination. Basically my muscles don't function together as they should. In my case the muscles on my left side are very tense and I have a lack of balance because my left leg is slightly shorter than my right leg resulting in a need for higher concentration and using three times the amount of effort from a non disabled peer.

I guess the moment I realized I was different was third grade, my classmates were bullying me because I couldn't walk or run as fast as them, or because I didn't do the same work they did in gym. I understand it could've been so much worse and please believe me when I say I'm not looking for pity. Even though it was pretty minor, I felt like I needed to do something about it. One day I went to my Nana's office at school, she was an educational diagnostician at my school which meant she assessed special needs students and met with parents and teachers to determine the best way to accommodate the students needs in order for them to be successful. There where plenty of days I stopped by her office to visit but that particular day was more significant because I went to ask her for help. I've supported the same philosophy since I was nine years old, sometimes people say and do the things they do because they don't understand every piece of the puzzle. I asked nana if there was a way to help my classmates understand my situation and she suggested we get my teacher's permission to give my class a presentation on Cerebral Palsy, so after getting permission and reading books I probably only halfway understood I gave my class that presentation. I believed in my work and saw very positive results.

The next school year I had a PAL, basically PALs were high school seniors who came to visit a specific elementary school student once a week. They could be matched up with their little PAL for a number of reasons, in my case Brenda had CP like me. She had a lot of influence on me and I stay in contact with her. She liked to read and she was into theatre. We had so much in common! That year I was also nominated for a summer camp called NYSP (National Young Scholars Program). It was a leadership convention for advanced young students. I was so excited but the only problem was that it was really expensive. For the next few months my my family and I worked hard on putting together fundraisers for me to have this opportunity. I have to give my Grammy a lot of credit because she put so much work into that fundraiser even though she was 78 years old! Of course everyone else did too and by May we had reached our goal. That summer we headed for Kerrville,Texas and my family dropped me off the university NYSP was held at. I made some friends, learned a lot and at the end of the week we had a talent show. Everyone else sang or danced or performed a funny skit. I decided to give another presentation on CP. Afterwards, kids I had never met were coming to me with questions about my presentation, it was the coolest feeling!