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.