People tend to take their legs for granted. While the other girls in my school were fawning over the football players’ muscles, or their perfect hair, I was jealous of their legs. Their functional legs. It's pretty crazy to think of a 15-year-old learning how to walk, but that’s exactly where I was. In a gym full of colorful mats and loud children, all I could focus on was the heavy Polish accent of my physical therapist urging me to trust myself. I took three whole steps. I started to get over confident, thinking that I could walk way more than someone who had a three-year gap in their walking practice should. I took four more steps. I looked up at my therapist for reassurance and a slight nod of her head encouraged me to keep going. Left. …show more content…
16. This is the greatest feeling in the world! 17! 18! ...Hold up. In a program where they were teaching me to recognize my disability, never had I felt more privileged. Sure, I just took my first 18 steps since the first surgery I had on my foot when I was 12. But what about Sam? What about the 18-year-old who was confined to a wheel chair for the rest of his life? What about the young adult who needs assistance with everything because he can't do anything for himself? What about everything I still had to learn? Sam knew his limitations, what he could and could not do, and most importantly, when to ask for help. Because I felt like I was on top of the world, until step 19. Turns out, 18 steps is as many as you can take after a three year break. When I reached step 19, I was most certainly not on top of the world. I was quite possibly the closest to the world that I could be. On the floor. This is where Sam had the better of me. I didn’t know my limitations. I didn’t know when to stop, and most likely, I didn’t stop until an outside force stopped me. My inertia had been overcome. It's easy to let that stop you, after all, it's just physics. An object at rest will stay at rest, and it is so easy to stay down after a
Mom’s words and doctor’s advice did not become a way to obstruct the narrator and his pride. Paying no attention to Mom and the doctor’s warning, the narrator took his crippled brother out and trained him anyways regardless of Doodle’s physical restraints, because he is embarrassed. “When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn’t walk, so I set out to teach him (Hurst 204).” Even worse, the narrator knew it was his pride that made him to force Doodle into cruel training, “I did it for myself; that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all their voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother (Hurst 206).” In addition, due to his embarrassment, the
The story “The One Legged Wrestler Who Conquered his Sport then Left it all behind” by David Merrill is about a young man and his wrestling career in high school and his time at Arizona State University. Anthony Robles was faced with many distinctive and difficult challenges as he was born with the horrendous fact of missing a crucial part of the human body, his right leg. Many believe a person born with this disability can’t have an athletic career, but Anthony found wrestling. When he began wrestling he didn’t draw anything but laughter from the audience, but as his talent grew, this changed. As he dominated the high school level of competition in his junior and senior years with an astonishing record of 96-0, he was declined from his top choice schools which were Iowa, Oklahoma State, and Columbia because they didn’t believe he would be a success at the National Collegiate Athletic Association level. They believed he was “too small” to win at that high level of wrestling. Years later he managed to walk away with his first NCAA title going 36-0 his senior year of college with an overall college record of 121-20. As he walked away a
As a child, Aimee was self conscious about her prosthetic legs. Only later did she realize that her difference is what makes her extraordinary. All her life she has been breaking expectations and never let’s anyone bring her down. “He was asking me to be less than, a little more downtrodden. He was asking
I initially felt helpless at my inability to lift anything with substantial weight, but on a personal level I gained the emotional strength to prevail what initially seemed to be a dismal
Everyone goes through hard times, but those who choose to bounce back and face their challenges head on will achieve greatness. This is exactly what double amputee, Spencer West, did. Spencer West is an amazing man who lost both his legs due to a genetic disease that caused severe spinal deformation. At the tender age of 5, the lower half of his body was amputated just below the pelvis. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, Spencer West decided to use his story to inspire others. Now, Spencer flies’ through life like a superhero, bringing smiles to many faces. Although it may not be a smooth flight the whole way, with his incredible perseverance, happiness through service work, and sense of self worth, Spencer West continues to redefine what
Laura has a bad leg and has to wear a brace, which causes her to walk with a limp. This brings down her self confidence because she feels that is something that will draw men away from her. Her appearance causes Laura to feel different and shy away from others.
Now with the aid of a rollator my mother can walk. Some days are more difficult than others, but she doesn’t let it stop her from enjoying her life. Being beside my mother during this entire experience has taught me three important things. The first: your life can dramatically change at any given moment, so make an effort to enjoy today to it’s fullest. The second: you can overcome whatever obstacles lie ahead, it may not be easy, but it’s possible. The third: you must be brave. If you are not brave, you won’t fight, you won’t thrive, you will not be happy. After realizing this, I decided to take a gap
I did have my good share of hardships and tribulations that I had to power through since the world did not grant me the fortune of immense amounts of upper body strength. I receive many lacerations on my adorable young hands and legs, but I took my bloody knees and my aching hands and I kept going. Every single day of my fifth summer, I happily rode my bike the whole three blocks to the school. I still remember vividly the wooden playground accented with the tackiest mustard colored plastic. There were eight bars that stood away from me and success. I could seldom keep myself up long, my feeble arms shaking as I struggle to swing them forward. All that didn’t matter though because my skills were steadily growing day by day. My blistered hands ultimately turned into hard calloused skin that mildly resembled a construction worker's hands. Honestly, if my ability as a young child impresses you mildly then imagine how incredibly pertinacious I am
When you think of the typical 6 year old little girl you probably think of an energetic, fun-loving, care-free child. I was all of that and more right up to the moment that a single spot on my right knee, to the right of center on my knee cap, stopped me dead in my tracks and left me scared for my life. At around the age of 6 I was having fun with my best friend and neighbor while spending spring break at my aunts beach house down in Panama City, Florida. I can remember the moment like it was yesterday. I was standing in the living room ready to go out and swim in the pool because I loved, and still love, swimming, and also because it was night and I loved how the pool lights made the whole backyard glow. The only thing holding me back from jumping in the pool was an extreme pain in my knee accompanied with a bump that I had not noticed before.
5-7. It was the quarter finals at the Mississippi State Championships for individual singles, and I had just lost the first set.
I was born in Panvel, India which is a city on the outskirts of Mumbai on the 5th of April 1998. I migrated to the United States in January of 2005. Migrating here was a big deal for family as we saw the United States as a land of opportunity. Later that year I attend my first school in the Upper Darby School District. I attended Highland Park Elementary for first grade, then for second and third grade I was moved to Bywood Elementary, in the same year I was moved then to Walter M. Senkow Elementary School where I finished my fourth and fifth grade year. For middle school I attended Beverly Hills Middle School.
The very incident—mild compared to others—changed my state of mind when I sprained my ankle for the very first time. I was in the middle of a volleyball game when I called out “Here!” I took three leaps forward with
I stood upon 2 separate roads and thought to myself, “which one should I take?” There is the one road that I always took, and then there’s the one that I have never taken before. Of course, due to my curiosity, I took the unfamiliar one without further thought. I kept walking up the road thinking I was going to reach my destination, but after making a couple turns, I ended up in a place I was unfamiliar with. By then, I realized that I was lost.
Firstly, Nick Vujicic has mental and physical strength. Imagine a situation of being born without limbs, no hands to experience touch, no legs to walk. Nick had a hard time when he was a child, and his life has filled with difficulties and hardships. When Nick attended school, he started to face a lot of problems. He began to be more lonely, rejected and bullied. That was because of his physical differences. Like most children , he was vulnerable in his pre-teen years and many kids hurt him when they asked him “why don’t you have arms and legs?” (Vujicic, 2010, p. 17). He decided to stay home to avoid negative comments from others. After a period of time, Nick became able to make relationships with other kids at school, by telling them about his physi...
I was 8 years old when I was on the train to Chicago when she first told me. I was very disrespectful and I refused to get up from my seat. Dati, my grandmother, told me one more time “get up from your set now, you're able to walk normally, you're not in pain like they are right now.”