Proud
Hi! I want to share my story with you! I'm Andjela from Serbia and I'm 16 years old. I have Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). I've been using wheelchair since I was 4 years old. I stopped walking when I got leukemia in 2004. Really strong medicines sped up my primary disease, but ended leukemia after 2 years of therapies. I can't walk for almost 13 years now. It gets me really depressed from time to time when I see other people walking so easily and I can't take a one simple step.
Sometimes, I wish I didn't get saved from leukemia, it could make everything a lot easier maybe. But, everything changed when I went to summer camp with NURDOR, a national organization of parents whose children have cancer. They organize summer camps every year in Ivanjica and there's a lot of activities. One of them is the zip-line. I'm scared of heights so I didn't try it in my first camp. But, in my second camp, my friends encouraged me to try it, so I did it! With my wheelchair! It was amazing!
My heart beat so fast... never so fast in my life! And I faced my fear, but I'm still a little afraid of heights. It doesn't matter if you're in a wheelchair, you can do absolutely anything, you just have to want it first. I'm a really shy person, and I don't like to take photos where others can see that I'm in a wheelchair, because I always think someone will think bad about me and pity me. But, this photo makes me proud because I felt like a totally healthy person in that moment!
