Jim Abbott

When I was growing up there weren’t many people that you heard of who were disabled.

Jim Abbott was absolutely my hero growing up.  Now, he may not be as great as Mariano Rivera or played as long, but he was definitely someone that stood out — especially on September 4, 1993 when he threw a “no hitter”!  He is the reason I become a Yankees fan so I tell people.  Jim and I had a common bond; we both had a disability on our right side.  There were not many people who had physical disabilities out making it big as popular celebrities.  At least no one I could relate to.  There where a few on TV before I was born and then when I was really little, but I was way too young to recognize or understand anything and what a physical disability was.  

When I was little, my parents used the term, “you have a weaker side on you right side.” Then slowly as the time went on, they would bring up people that I would be able to relate to.  One day my dad told me about this pitcher on the Yankees who had one hand and how he does everything with his left hand.  Hmm . . . I do mostly everything with my left side, but there is a little difference between us even though we are very similar.  I have two hands he has one.  What could the connection be?  Dad took me to a Yankees game and I saw exactly what he meant how  Jim did everything with his left hand — he caught and threw the ball back and forth to the catcher. “How cool is that?!”  That meant that if a guy with one arm could play catch, then I could too!”

It was because of Jim that I Learned how to  pick up a glove and ball to play catch with my dad.  He retired from baseball to go and be a motivational speaker.  Now as a kid, can you imagine how devastated you would be when your dad tells you that your favorite player was retiring to do motivational speaking and not having a clue of what that means?  How could anyone talented enough to play big league ball, that stood out to a whole different community of people retire?  I came to understand as everything came to a full circle.  As an adult now, I have a career in teaching and do some motivational speaking.  Now that’s another thing Jim and I have in common.  He left baseball for motivational speaking. 

Tommy & Me

       Sometimes we do not realize the effect that they have on us till latter In life or till there gone.

     
       When you are growing up you do not realize until latter who really makes you who you are.  I was born on July 9, 1984, I suffered internal bleeding to the right side of my brain. Which latter led to my developing cerebral palsy on my right side. Then later a seizure disorder. I had to go through multiple test like including MRIs and EEGs to see what was going on.

       Three years before that on September 1981, one of my dad’s friends was In a really bad accident that eventually left him paralyzed. Out of all  of my dad's friends Tommy was the one that I probably connected with the most. If it was not for Tommy's accident my life could have turned out a lot differently because I did not meet anyone my own age that I knew with a physical disability until I was nine. As a  young child that seems like a life time. 

       I know they say sometimes the less you know the better off you are but that was not the case with me. I did not realize until I 1997 when I was in middle school that I was different from the other kids. Most of my friends that i had and if you asked them today they might come and say WHAT WHO ? You mean Melissa theres nothing wrong with her thats just Melissa . However those friends where in a different school , and the friends that i did have where in a different classroom.

 Back then it was really hard because for the first time I was entering a class where I did not know anyone, they would do things like mimic the way I walked, pull out my pony tail and ask me things like how does it feel to have cerebral palsy? After I answered I'd get a responses like "Oh that sucks, I wouldn't want to be born with that!! As all this was happening this was a time when I could have used the help of Tommy but unfortunately he died three years early as all was going on.

       Some people may think that it's weird and say that what impact could someone who died when you were only ten have had on your life? We ended up having a lot in common. Even though it was for different reasons, we had a lot in common because we never stopped fighting.