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Love who you are My name is Carlos Fred Martins (@fred.sismos). I was born in Brazil in 1979. In 1994 when I was fifteen years old, I lost my left foot due to a shark attack while I was surfing in my hometown, Recife. I had to adapt my life to my new condition. For twenty-two years, I was ashamed of being an amputee. I missed a lot of great moments during my time at the university because I refused to wear shorts in front of other people. A friend told me that I shouldn’t be ashamed of myself. That I should embrace the way I am. After that, I started researching online about people living with an amputation and found about Amputee Coalition of America. It was a game change for me. I decided to make a prosthetic without a cover and sharks painted on it. During my vacations, I was removing my leg to swim, something unimaginable before. I started just to ignore people staring at me always recurring to a simple thought: “Life is too short to care about what other people will think about me.” In 2015, now living in Canada, I was working as a job developer assisting other individuals with disabilities in finding employment opportunities. It was the most challenging job I’ve ever had. The business community still has misconceptions about professionals with disabilities. Due to that, I came up with the idea of Tee Talent Apparel Inc (@teetalentinc), a clothing company that was created to promote the talent of people with disabilities in the workplace. We want to grow our business to be able to hire individuals with disabilities to work for our company and show to the society that we are extraordinary people that always find a way to get the job done.

The Miguel Martinez Story My name is Miguel Angel Martinez. I'm 26 years old from Snyder, Tx. Where to begin? It all started back in 2012 when my life would change for ever. I was 22 years old living life with no fear. I felt untouchable just as any other 22 year old would feel. Then the unthinkable happened and I got touched by reality... What I mean by that is I got in a car accident. I was drinking and driving and wrecked my vehicle into a building. It was a single car accident and no one was with me in the vehicle thank god. But that doesn't change the fact I was in the wrong. Live, learn & adapt Worse part for me was when Dr. told me I was paralyzed from the waist down with a T11-T12 injury. Once he told me that, for the first time in my life I felt so usless and just broke down and cried like I never have cried before. While I was doing therapy it made me realize how much I took the little things I was blessed with like walking for granted. A little over 2 years ago I began to start working out to keep things off my mind. It started off as a hobby to pass time, but I started enjoying how I felt about myself more and more. That's when I looked up wheelchair bodybuilding and decided to pursue it. I went to my first show last year in March and it was an amazing feeling being up there on stage. I was hooked after that and now I want to become a WheelChair BodyBuilder Sponsored Athlete. Yes I have made mistakes. I'm human, its what we do- make mistakes and learn from them. Just because you have made mistakes doesn't mean you have to stop living. Live, learn & adapt to any situation.

Keep Rolling Life is Great Hello! My name is Catarina Oliveira, I'm 28 years old, and I live in Oporto (Portugal). In January of this year I had transverse myelitis while on vacation in Rio de Janeiro, which left me paralyzed from the waist down. Initially it was a shock because I thought my life would change drastically, but I quickly decided that I had to try to get the best out of this whole situation. So nowadays I do everything I did before the injury; study, work, travel, I'm a DJ, I do a lot of sports and obviously a lot of physical therapy because after all, hope is the last that will die and I will walk again! Life is great My friends and family are just amazing and I don't let anything stop me from doing what I love! The message that I would like to leave to everyone is that the human being is much more than a standing or sitting body, so do not judge us by our incapacity. Deep down we are all equal regardless of our current physical condition! Be happy and above all enjoy life to the fullest because: LIFE IS GREAT!

The Tournament Rugbymania is a wheelchair rugby european tournament in Czech Republic. Our team went to Prauge for the second time to represent Brazil. It was such an amazing opportunity for us to improve our playing and to come back to Brazil with much more experience. We got 5th place. Europe was wonderful! There is soo much culture, architeture and history. Most of our guys had never left our city befor this trip. Before we we left for Prague, many were in doubt about going. No, they can't wait to travel again!

Fighting for his life In December of 2014 my husband was diagnosed with cancer. He spent most of 2015 in and out of the hospital receiving chemotherapy. At the end of 2015 my husband was in remission and we thought this dark cloud would pass. Unfortunately in April of 2016 he relapsed. He was given a salvage chemo but even that did not work. By July of 2016 the cancer had spread to his bone marrow, spine and was scattered throughout this body. His oncologist tried another chemotherapy and let us know that he had a 50% chance of getting in remission after 3 cycles. After only one cycle of chemo my husband was back in remission. We thought he would be able to get the bone marrow transplant he needed. Unfortunately the high doses of chemo he has received caused damage in his spine and in September he lost all his ability to move his legs and his arms. The doctors thought the spinal cord damage was going to increase and ultimately take his life so they put him on hospice in October. Through it all my husband's faith in God has not been shaken. So many people look to athletes, celebrities and well known people as their inspiration but my husband truly is an inspiration to me. The last two years we have witnessed him hooked up to high doses of chemotherapy. He has been treated by neurologists, infectious disease specialists, oncologists, nephrologist, cardiologists and wound care doctors. Our insurance has been billed millions of dollars this year alone. There have been weeks at a time where he was in the hospital away from his two children. Yet through it all he has continued praising God. He has maintained the best attitude and has been a pillar of strength for our family. We have experienced a peace that comes from God. God has given us strength in the midst of darkness. He has given us comfort when we were full of sorrow. God has been fighting this battle for us every step of the way. Though we may never understand why cancer hit our home. And though we may never receive answers to why my husband became paralyzed we are believing that God can heal and we trust that every day God will give us enough strength to make it another day. We have heard multiple times from doctors very bad reports but we have seen the hand of God intervene time and time again. We may not know what the future holds but we do know that God will always see us through.

Paragplegic Assalaimulaikum! My name is Ning Sunarto and I am 22 years old. I live in Indonesia. 2 years ago I suffered a sudden illness that struck me, after visiting my neighboring country, Malaysia Malacca. It turns out I became paraplegia. Until now, I still have to pee using a catheter. At first, it was difficult to undergo everything that had happened. Everything had to be changed in my way of life because now I use a wheelchair. But after the first year, I started to come to life again. One reason for me being such a strong person is because of my family. My mom sisters, and nephew especially. The second year I started thinking how I live a decent day and life as I used to. I learned to make felt flowers and learned how to tattoo the body using henna, a cultural practice of India. I want to share with you that life is good with my family; We keep the spirit high as if nothing has changed and find positive things that help our minds become even more positive each day.

They see me rollin' My name is Cecilie and I'm from beautiful Norway. I'm 27 years old and I've been walking for 19 years and soon 8 years rolling. My mother and I were going to the store one day, when we got in bad car accident. She hit her head pretty bad on the stearing wheel and broke her pelvis. My legs were stuck and I was laying on top of a lot of things that got pushed under me. I broke my right under and upper arm, my pelvis, all my ribs on the right side etc. I also broke my back, which left me paralyzed from the waist down. The accident The man who hit us was driving a big truck and he never pushed the break. Why? Because he was looking at his phone and he didn't see our car before it was too late. He basically drove over our car. I was awake the whole time and I remember it like it was yesterday. I was in a coma for a whole month before I woke up to the beginning of my new life in a wheelchair. I can't feel much, and I can't move at all. To be paralyzed isn't just about not being able to walk, there's much more to it. People tell me that they can't imagine not being able to walk, but that's really not the problem. To have a spinal cord injury means that every part of your body is affected in some way. It can be a struggle, or actually, it IS a struggle. I've been through 18 operations the last 8 years and I have many more to come. I was on the operating table 7 times last year. That's hard on both my body and my mind. I've almost died 3 times, I've had sepsis twice and I don't even remember the number of blood transfers I've had. I can go on and on but I wont. Focusing on the good Because.. I want to focus on the good things in life. My life before and after the accident couldn't be more different. Not because I'm paralyzed but because I'm a new person - in a good way! I was a angry teenager who didn't care about anything else than myself. I've had real bad childhood and to this day I don't know how I could handle it. I've learned to be happy with what I have and to make the best out of everything no matter how hard or bad it is. My way of thinking is better, I care about people around me and I do everything I possiblly can do for both myself and others. I'm strong and independent and I'm not afraid to say what I mean. Everyone agrees that I'm a better person now, and I agree. I actually like myself now. I'm proud, really proud! It's been very hard but I've never really struggled with the fact that I won't be able to walk again. I don't mind because it's really not a big deal. I have one rule and that's to look forward insted of looking back. There's no reason to look back anyway cause you cant do much about it anyway. Focus on what's ahead of you because it's going to make you go downhill if you keep looking back. Your future is what you make it to be. We have something called Safe Traffic here in Norway. I joined them in their work to make traffic safe for everyone only 9 months after my accident. My job was to go to schools in the area where I lived and tell my story. I was afraid first but I loved it. I could sit in front of 500 people talking and they wouldn't make a sound. I was so proud and felt like I made something good of something bad. It's my story and I can use it to make people realise how dangerous traffic can be, and maybe I can make someone think twice before they do stupid choices in traffic. I've also been in a lot of magazines, news papers and so on. I'm active where I can and where I know I can help in some way. It's fun but also very important. 2 years ago I made a facebook group for people in wheelchairs in Norway. A group where we can share our thoughts, ideas, pictures etc. I called it "Positivt rullende", Or "Positive rolling" in English. Were almost 500 now, and I'm so proud!! I've also been trying to make it easier to talk about disabilities and sexuality in Norway and it seems to be working. It's important for everyone and it's not something that disappears just because we can't walk. I woke up from the coma thinking "Oh crap, what happens now?!". Everything was hard and I couldn't see how my life would work out. Today I've done more than I could ever imagine. I'm independent, I drive my own car, I have a wonderful Golden Retriever named Leah, age 7 that I've taken care of since she was a puppy. I have my own apartment, and guess what, I'm engaged to the best man ever! I'm so happy with my life even tho it's a struggle sometimes. I love my life, myself and I love my wheelchair, which btw is named Bjartleif. Love yourself and know that everything is possible if you just try.

THE DREAM TEAM Hi, we are Freddy and Ronja - a disabled man (cerebral palsy) and his care-taker. But most importantly we’re an excellent team. We pride ourselves on focusing on what’s possible and what we CAN do, rather than what’s not possible and what we can’t do. And as a result, we’ve found that almost nothing is in fact impossible, disabilities or no disabilities, heck - the word itself says, “I’m possible”. WHAT WE DO Together we fill up our days with exciting things that make us happy - no matter the obstacles. We play football, even though Freddy only have one functional foot and Ronja is more likely to kick herself rather than the ball. We swim, even though Freddy needs to be practically covered with swimmies and other swimming gear to stay afloat. We go to concerts to sing and dance, even though Freddy has no language and Ronja screams more than she sings. We say yes to every opportunity that comes our way and we’re always ready to experience something new. YOUTUBE Our newest project has been starting a youtube channel called “Spasser og passer” which translates into “disabled and disabled carer”. Every week we film, edit, and upload youtube videos onto the internet. We enjoy sharing our lives, experiences and thoughts with people, and love starting conversations online. But most importantly youtube gives Freddy a voice and a way of sharing who he is and what his life is like without being able to speak. With it, we hope to inspire other disabled people to pursue their dreams.

6 Tips for Traveling My family had rarely traveled before my daughter Beth’s C6-7 spinal cord injury. From our small hometown in Ohio, she had been on a plane once, to Orlando, Florida. Beth was a fourteen-year-old inpatient in rehab during the summer of 2000. She ordered a manual instead of a power wheelchair, even though she could hardly push one. With no thoughts of travel, she had no way of knowing that her new chair would simplify the many flights in her future. TIP #1: Fly with a manual wheelchair instead of a power chair, if at all possible. Power chairs are more vulnerable to significant damage, and may not work after a trip to the cargo hold, even if you remove the battery ahead of time. Two years after Beth’s injury, I planned our first trip with a wheelchair after she met a Paralympic coach on a serendipity day. I focused on registering her for the USA Swimming Disability Championships while she finished 10th grade. I was clueless, completely unaware of the details of traveling with a wheelchair. TIP #2: Always plan ahead. Consult with your airline, seek out experienced travelers, and access online resources. Ask a doctor about any medical concerns. Our flight to Seattle left from Detroit. I transferred Beth to an airport wheelchair, and innocently handed over her manual chair at check in. At the gate, the narrow aisle chair that carried her on the plane surprised us. I helped with transfers and tamed her leg spasms that followed. There were three seats together in our row. With my daughter on the aisle, the window seat passenger had to crawl over Beth before I followed him to sit in the middle. Her wheelchair survived under the luggage pile with only a bent brake lever, a stroke of luck. A year after Seattle, Beth was invited to Edmonton, Alberta with the U.S. Paralympic National Swim Team. At the airport, she wheeled her own chair to the gate. We left the side guards on her gate-checked chair and ended up losing one, but she earned her first stamps in her brand-new passport. TIP #3: Get to the airport gate early to check in with the clerk. Review the boarding process and gate-check the manual wheelchair. Don’t leave anything loose on the chair. Tape the push handles down. (For any damage, fill out the airline’s claim form.) After graduating from high school, Beth’s first flight on her own took her to the National Youth Leadership Network conference. I carefully packed her suitcase and she carried my list of important phone numbers and a health card in her wallet. “It was my first independent flight,” Beth said. “I’m not sure why, probably just something new and being nervous, but I got teary when Mom left me at security.” Lifted into an aisle chair to board the plane, she asked them to wait while she broke her leg spasms. At home in Ohio, I watched the clock and waited. When the plane landed in Washington, DC, she called me, reclaimed her wheelchair, and made her way to the conference. TIP #4: Be prepared. Have an emergency plan in place. Pack extra medical supplies. Be ready for flight delays, or an extended time on the plane. Through her college years, she flew across the country and around the world on the U.S. Paralympic National Swim Team. Beth and I lived in different states, so we sometimes met at an airport in yet another state for swim meets. She often traveled on her own, and getting to the airport was a challenge at first. Accessible taxis worked with early reservations, but after one was late picking her up, she experimented with the subway, friends with cars, and taxis—which rarely stopped for a young woman in a chair. She practiced wheelchair to car transfers. TIP #5: If you have air-filled wheelchair tires, replace them. Or, pack two spare innertubes and a bicycle pump. In Montreal for a swim meet, Beth had a flat tire on a Sunday during a snowstorm. Miraculously, I found an open bike shop with the right innertube. She has used foam-filled tires ever since! Beth competed at England’s first Paralympic World Cup in 2005. At the hotel, her bed was too high. She asked another swimmer to put her mattress along the wall. Beth slept on the box springs because she would not ask for help to get into bed. At her next World Cup, two years later at the same hotel, her coach moved the box springs along the wall instead of the mattress. As she traveled overseas more often with U.S. Paralympics, I stayed at home for some of the trips, but I renewed my passport. I needed to know that I could fly to her if she needed me. Thankfully, she didn’t. Nowadays, college and competitive swimming are in the past and Beth continues to fly for her job and for fun. Some of her work trips are short and routine. She wears pants instead of her usual work dresses and skirts to make her independent transfers easier. She packs light with a bag on her chair back and her computer in another on her lap. She carries an electronic health card and my list of important phone numbers. Neither has ever been needed, but she humors me and leaves them in her wallet anyway. Beth takes an Uber sedan to the airport for work trips. She talks the driver through the process. After she gets herself in the backseat, she explains how to take the big wheels off so her chair fits in the trunk. She says thank you with a smile. TIP #6: Consider a window seat for future flights. But most of all, ENJOY the trip! Before she boards the plane, Beth removes the side guards and cushion from her chair. From the aisle seat, she scoots over to her window seat. No one climbs over her. After landing, she uses her phone while the other passengers exit. She avoids baggage claim when she can, and wheels outside to a waiting Uber. For Beth’s longer trips, I keep my passport current, just in case. I learn more details during phone calls and visits—and from social media. She posts a picture with her boyfriend at the Eiffel Tower and another with a friendly cat at a winery in France. My frequent flyer has a knack for attracting serendipity. I hope you will, too. Travel on! More on my blog at: strugglingwithserendipity.com

Lucas This is Lucas Larson. He is 3 years old and was born three months premature. He and his twin brother, Gabriel, only weighed 1lb 12oz each when they were born. Lucas has hydrocephalus and a VP shunt, Cortical Visual Impairment, and Cerebral Palsy. I am Lucas' aunt and full time caregiver. His mom was my older sister and she was raising them on her own. Sadly she passed away unexpectedly a year ago. She loved her boys more than anything else in the world and would be so proud of them right now. Multiple hospital stays and different surgeries and tons of different doctors and therapies. Times when we were scared and confused and he fought through and came out of everything with big smiles on his face. Everyday I look at him and see this bright smile or hear his laugh and think that I am blessed to have him here with me. He makes everyday easier, even though he has to go through so much for a 3 year old - he brings a lightness to it all. He just started school and is learning more and more everyday. He is so strong and impresses every person who works with him. He recently just got his own wheelchair, which has been amazing for him. He likes being in his stander and we are hoping soon we will start to look at gait trainers. He loves to play with his brother, go swimming and especially loves listening to music. Cerebral Palsy Warriors- Impossible is Nothing!

Don't Give up In life it can be very easy to become complacent, especially when you’re in a powerchair. There was a time when I thought sleeping in and eating whatever I desired, was my maximum potential. That was until I woke up and saw what was right in front me, a community wanting me to succeed. In my younger days, the attention given to me was that of the “politically correct” variety. If I were to receive “real” human interaction, my shyness would have to be replaced with meaningful conversation. This started with small things, like saying hello to people on the street and expanding to joining various committees and attending the meetings on my own. One of the most common ways people, gently me along life’s journey is asking me to repeat myself. My speech impairment is a part of my disability that bothers me the most. My newest push from the community had come with me losing in our recent municipal election. My campaign seemed to be going great and I was getting a lot of positive feedback. After all my hard work, I did not win. The pain of losing was sharp for a brief moment, but then I came to realizing that this was everyone telling me that they expect more out of me and I can do a better job representing myself and the community.I take losing the election with great respect, and will continue to enhance myself and points of view to the point where I earn the chance to represent the people.My soul is like a puzzle made of pieces. You all help me find out which piece, goes where and when. I’ll be forever grateful for this. THANK YOU to all of you.

From the beginning of my 34 week ultrasound When we were planning to have our first child, you never think anything could possibly happen or go wrong. It's not the first thought that enters your mind. You think about the person the baby could be, the activities they will be able to do, what will their interests will be, etc. My pregnancy was a textbook pregnancy until my whole world turned upside down at 34 weeks. I went in for a routine ultrasound to check on our healthy baby boy. The ultrasound tech started the appointment and something apparently caught her eye. She kept going back to his head and called for the doctor to come take a look. This never happens. You typically see the doctor after the appointment. The doctor came in and the look in her face scared me to my very core. The worst came to my mind. She pulled us into the office and explained that there seemed to be some fluid on our baby's brain. She wasn't sure what was causing it or where it was coming from, but they referred us to a specialist. I went into instant panic mode. Referred to Faternal Fetal Medicine We were referred to a specialist in New Orleans. They did another ultrasound to see what my doctor saw and told us it could have been a few things and asked to run some tests. All the tests came back negative or normal. The fluid never moved (increased or decreased) throughout the rest of my pregnancy. We were monitored every 2 weeks until Greyson was born via c-section at 5:30 p.m. weighing 6 lbs 12 oz & 19 3/4 inches long. We thought that he would have had to go to the NICU, but he ended up not needing to go. He came out doing everything and looking just like a "normal" baby should be and look. He had an ultrasound of his head while in the hospital. They said that the fluid was still there. The doctors agreed that he would need an MRI done while outpatient. We were discharged almost 3 days later. THE MRI & Results At 2 weeks old Greyson underwent an MRI, which caused us having to stay the night at Children's to avoid having a panic episode. Right before being discharged we finally got the results we had been waiting for. The doctor came in and I'll never forget that day. She told us that he appeared to have suffered a stroke in utero with a brain hemorrhage. The fluid is still there, but it appears that the brain hemmorage had healed. Where it happened will affect his coordination. Even though we were trying to soak in what was told to us, we didn't really realize what was going to happen and truly be the effect of it. It took a long time to come to terms with it and to understand everything that came with it. The moment we came home from the hospital he was enrolled in Early Steps to start early intervention. Greyson's struggles Greyson has come a very long way. He is delayed in a lot of his milestones. It took him 4 months before he was able to lift his head up on his own. He had to have 2 eye surgeries because he was cross eyed. After this vision was corrected he was able to improve his coordination. He didn't crawl on his hands and knees until he was 2 years old. Sitting on his own took a long time to master and he is still a little wobbly on it, but sits up so much straighter. The stroke has affected his ability to balance and his coordination. He is almost 2 1/2 years old. He is not standing or walking independently without assistance. Greyson has to wear a pair of AFOS to help with his tight muscles and low muscle tone. He also walks with a posterior walker, which he cruises in now. He is still nonverbal, but has a lot of coordination issues when it comes to his mouth. He goes through a lot of therapy weekly. He has physcial therapy once a week, speech 3 times a week, occupational therapy twice a month, and a special instructor with the school board works with him twice a month. Greyson is just happy At his 2 year MRI, we were told that the fluid was completely gone! He has no idea that he is different or should be doing things a different way by now. He is such a happy child and always wants to make people laugh. He is fun loving and full of life. He is determined and doesn't let his disability stand in his way. He was officially diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at the age of 2 years old. To him this is just a diagnosis. It doesn't define him. He was the Cerebral Palsy telethon poster child in our area. If he wants to do something bad enough, he sets his mind to do it and gets it done. He's our biggest blessing and has changed our lives for the better. We didn't think our lives would end up like this, but there is a reason it did. I honestly wouldn't change it for the world. I would change the world to make his life a little easier. This is why I try so hard to advocate for him. I run a blog and an instagram that tracks his journey. I will keep fighting and be his voice to get him what he needs. Follow us on this journey. Instagram: @greysons_gains Blog: https://goingpurpleforgreyson.wordpress.com/