“You Have to Paint With the Colors You Have”
by Amy
I was born on October 12, 1992 with my twin brother, Mark. We were supposed to be born on Christmas Day, and instead it was Columbus Day (some people say we got our holidays mixed up.) At first, my Mom noticed that I was not doing things as quickly as my brother did, so she took me to the doctor to do some tests. They discovered that I had mild Cerebral Palsy. My family was concerned at first, but once they did some research and found out exactly what CP was, they were not that worried. From then on, my parents knew they would try their hardest to make sure I was just like everyone else. When I was two years old, I had a surgery on my legs to help give me a better chance of walking. After being in a full body casts for eight weeks, the surgeon told my parents that I probably would never be able to walk again. My mother did not believe one word he said and walked right out of the doctor’s office. At first it was really hard for me to even walk, because my muscles were so tight and I did not have good balance. Another thing that was hard was to find a physical therapist for me that was nice, listened to me, and made it more fun for a six year old who was not improving much. We finally found one named Elizabeth who I was scared of at first. I was worried that she would be just like my previous one and I would hate having physical therapy. I was definitely wrong. Elizabeth was different that anyone else. She brought over books on tape that I could listen to while she stretched me. When I had to do exercises, she would make games out of them so that it was fun to work, and I was working harder than I ever had before. My doctors saw an immediate improvement. Almost a year after I began working with Elizabeth, I made a huge accomplishment. I surprised everyone and took my first independent steps over to my grandfather to get a piece of chocolate. Even though he didn’t say so and I didn’t know it at the time, I think my grandfather really believed in me. He had also overcome a lot of obstacles in his life, and he knew what I was capable of. From then on, with the help of my family and Elizabeth, I have learned that there is nothing I can’t do. Today I do most of the things that any average kid would do. I go to public school in a regular classroom, and I am a very good student. I love sports such as soccer, horseback riding, and most recently, baton twirling. This past summer I went away to sleep-away camp for four weeks where I learned how to twirl a baton with fire on the ends. I had a twirling teacher there who really believed in me and encouraged me to work hard. I also absolutely love to sing and dance. At camp and at my elementary school, I have performed dances and received standing ovations. At camp, a cabin of senior campers even came up to me afterwards to tell me how much they enjoyed my dance. This made me feel very good about myself. Even though my muscles are sometimes stiff and painful, I still try to do everything that I want to, and I never look at myself as a kid with a disability.
This past summer, on August 10th, I had major surgery on my legs. Doctors turned my right leg outward so that it would be facing the front more, put my left hip back in the socket, and shortened both femurs to even the length of my legs. After the surgery, I stayed in the hospital for a week, which I’m not going to lie, was not very pleasant. It was tough having IV’s in me all the time (which kept falling out) and not being able to sleep or eat anything because of the anesthesia. The third day of my hospital stay, my legs went into spasm. This caused constant pain and my legs felt like they were going to jump off the bed even though they were in full leg casts. Even though it was difficult, I would watch music videos to cheer me up and keep thinking about going home and getting better. I came home in an ambulance, which was a very strange experience. When I got home, my parents had set up the basement for me to stay in so that it would be easier for me to move around in my wheelchair. At first it was very hard for me in the casts, because I had to get used to my legs staying still all the time. Soon I learned to make the best of it by learning to sit up and hold on to the bar that was in between my leg casts, holding my legs apart. After a few weeks, I went back to the hospital for a check up to make sure everything was healing right. The doctors saw a big blister that was forming on my left heel sot hey did not want to put the casts back on. Instead, they put knee immobilizers on me and special boots that did not touch my heel, both of these could be removed and put back on again. In a week’s time I started doing physical therapy again with Elizabeth and regaining my strength. Because of my hard work with Elizabeth, I am now able to bend my legs fully and have regained strength in my legs. Now I am just waiting for my doctors to say it’s okay for me to bear weight on my legs and walk again. This time was very hard for me because, I went from doing everything (including walking) to not being able to do anything in the blink of an eye. I know it is unrealistic to be positive all the time, but I try to be most of the time.
An accomplishment that may be simple to someone else is a big deal to me. I have always tried my hardest in everything, and people like me because of that. This gives me more confidence to do even more things and become better at the things I do. When I look at myself, I don’t think of myself as different than anyone else, and I think that in itself is very important. I think you shouldn’t be afraid to be yourself just because you are a little different than other people. I want to broaden people’s horizons when it comes to looking at people with disabilities or who are just different than them. If you are wondering what the title of my essay means, there is really no right answer. It all depends on your attitude towards life and what you imagine it could be. Here is my vision: everyone has “colors” that they are given, these can be talents, challenges, attitudes, differences, and opinions. It is your task to take what you have and paint a pretty picture of your life. I have always believed that you have to paint with the colors you have, and look at everything positively. . . or you’re pretty much going to get nowhere.
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