Let me tell you a little bit about myself.  I was born three months too soon, weighing one pound, twelve ounces.  My parents were told that I had suffered a severe stroke on both sides of my brain during birth, due to my premature birth.  If by some miracle I would survive, they were told I would never walk or talk.

During the first two weeks of life, my parents were unaware of my head swelling and were shocked and surprised to find that I was scheduled for surgery to treat my progressing hydrocephalus.  Hydrocephalus is when the excess fluid of the brain does not drain properly. A shunt was placed to drain this fluid.  Since then, I have had four surgeries and have gone, an unheard of, thirteen years without having another shunt operation.

I am proud to say that I have proved the doctors wrong.  By 2006 I was fourteen years old and, by the grace of God, a fully functioning person with only right-sided hemiplegia.  Hemiplegia is a condition which affects the right or left side of the body, causing the muscles to stay in constant contraction.  Due to this unfortunate condition, the everyday obstacles are endless, but slowly I find a way to overcome them.

Amazingly, I have learned to ride a bike, which most kids with hemiplegia never dream of accomplishing. I have also performed in twenty-eight musicals.  Most recently, I have joined the team of A Touch of Understanding, which has become an activity I am most passionate about.

I am a speaker for A Touch of Understanding.  It gives me a chance to be in front of an audience, which I love.  It reminds me of all the things I've overcome which gives me joy and more confidence.  I think the students like the fact that I'm close to their age.  I am able to help them understand what life is like for me and what I go through everyday.  I tell them it's hard enough to have a disability, when kids tease you, it makes it so much more difficult.

A Touch of Understanding is important because it lets the students know that people with disabilities are normal people just like them.  We like to laugh and watch movies.  These kids may have a disability themselves one day and if that happens, they can look back on their experience with A Touch of Understanding and remember that Paige, Mike, Courtney and the others were content and happy with their lives.  And they can be too!