By His Strength

 From the time I was six months old until I turned three, I was enrolled in Rainbow Early Intervention. They would come to my house and work with me on motor and cognitive skills. After about a year, I went to the Rainbow house, which was a few miles from my house. At the Rainbow house, I was around peers with various types of disabilities. I enjoyed being around kids my own age! 

My parents and I lived in the Douglas Bend area of Gallatin, Tennessee for the first four years of my life. I cherish those times and memories at that house!!!  I remember watching Sesame Street, Barney, and Teletubbies!!! However, my favorite was Sesame Street!!!! I used to play with Tickle Me Elmo and have a Big Elmo!!!! He still brings me a sense of comfort and peace.

  I was born on January 7, 1996 at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. It was a snowy Sunday morning, known as the “Blizzard of ‘96.” There were complications during my birth, and I was born not breathing. I was born with no heartbeat, and I did not breathe on my own for about thirty minutes. In reality, I was born dead, but the doctors brought me back to life. I was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for the first week of my life, but I made a remarkable recovery according to the doctors. I went home after seven days in the hospital. Because of the lack of oxygen to my brain during my birth, I have a condition called cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy affects brain function, and it is a life-long condition, which has no cure. It can be severe, or it can be mild. It can affect any area of the brain from muscle control to speech or cognitive skills such as, “smarts” or intelligence. My cerebral palsy is in the middle or a medium case. It affects my muscles by not allowing them to...