My Story

Author's Note: I am not doing this to be vain in any sense of the word, but to inspire others. Everyone has some story that can be used to inspire people and I want to share mine. I hold my heroes in high regards because they (whether they be my mom or a former U.S. President like JFK, Eisenhower  or Reagan) inspire me and I, at my young age of 18, want to inspire others too! Also, May is Pediatric Stroke Awareness Month so I want to share this.

I was born on July 17th 1995 in Atlanta, Georgia. My story really starts before that in May of that year when an automobile accident my mom was in changed my life. Of course I wasn't born yet, but that event would be central to a story that I have to tell. Sad part aside, the doctors attending to my mom were clever enough to figure out that some damage had been done to me that had caused a bleed in the brain. I'm not certain what kind/how severe it was but I'd like to know one day for reference's sake.

They ran a lot of tests and threw out estimations of what the affects of the stroke I had would be. The thing about strokes is that you never know how they'll affect someone for certain. I've read tons of stories of kids who had strokes way worse than me. So in a way, I really lucked out. That said, when I was finally born I was diagnosed with left hemiparesis (Hemiparesis is a Greek term for one sided weakness), hydrocephalus (again throwing some Greek in, hydrocephalus means water on the brain), and visual problems.

I started a therapy regime, of which I don't recall much, that lasted from age six months to about eleven or twelve years old (maybe thirteen at the latest). We had me go to clinics, and even had therapists come to our house a few times a week. I wore foot braces called AFOs and hand splints. Therapy wasn't exactly daunting to me; some of it was kind of fun like playing on the balance beam my dad built for me, or with the little red and yellow cars one of my therapists had or the "Reach for Edward" game at my last therapy center (a game which I have no further comment upon, because Edward was an Edward Cullen from Twilight I used to carry around back in the Twilight Craze days).

Visually, I've gotten tons better. I used to be legally blind- 20/200 vision, but now I'm sitting at about 20/50 which works fine with me. I wear glasses and misplace them just as often! In 1997 I had strabismus surgery and will most likely receive it again this summer (despite my innate hatred of medical professionals as a whole entity).

School passed normally for me and I never really had trouble with anything but math, but isn't that what calculators are for? I have had great friends whom I love dearly. This fall I will be attending Young Harris College to study English and Holocaust studies to get ready to work at a museum. When people ask why the Holocaust all I'll say is that I can connect with the stories of tragedy that ultimately ended well. I have a lot of fun exploring new things and going into them 110%!

I also love writing because it's a great creative outlet. Another reason I'm lucky to be a writer is that I can see my stories come alive in my head like films because I type them slowly (I type with my right index finger only, by the way) so that's REALLY COOL to me to slow down and watch a story unfold before my eyes. I have a book already self published and one being considered by Baen Books for publication.

No story, I think, would be complete without the love and support of my amazing family and friends. You all are everything to me and more.