So I keep mentioning that I have Erb's Palsy. So since it's something I've had since birth, I guess you could say I'm used to it. I can't imagine how hard it must be for people to obtain an injury later in life.
Anyway what this means for me is not having to the ability to move my left arm much. Making exercising completely personalized. In school, people claim to never notice a problem with my arm until I had explained it to them. It also meant me having to sit out on certain things during PE.. which wasn't always such a bad thing. Sometimes I get infuriated at it because I can't do things that everybody else can. Simple stuff! Like reaching. I've cried. It's awful having something you can't change.
I have had it operated on, which did do some improvement. But I know I'll never be quite right. One time, I must've been down about the whole thing. We were talking about jobs. And my mom said something like "well, we know you'll never be a pilot." That made me so sad. Not that I want to be a pilot, but having doors of oportunities close because of something like this was heartbreaking to hear. You know? I don't want anything to prevent me from anything. I wanna know that I can do anything, even if I didn't want to in the first place. Must be my Capricorn side coming out. (by the way, I love Astrology)
So the effect this had on me was a lawsuit, which we won.. but there's nothing that can replace having normal ability on your arm. One thing that hurts the most is knowing I can't play guitar. I watch people play.. I'm amazed.. but I know I can't do it. Even if I was taught by the best instructor.. knew every trick, every note. I still couldn't do it. :( And with my love of music.. it's pretty heartwrenching.
So I live my life everyday with this disability not knowing the difference since it was from birth. This is something not many people know about. I want to educate people about this disability. I want people to know that there is "life after injury," even if it brings me down sometimes. It makes me who I am, and I have no choice but to go with it.
You are such an inspiration! You are an amazing person. Great blog!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mattparsons.net/bio/
ReplyDeleteThis condition left Matt with no movement in his left arm due to severed nerves from the spine. Doctors informed his parents that playing an instrument would be an impossible task. ntil he was 17 he dreamed of playing the guitar but saw no way of doing so as turning his arm over to play chords seemed an impossible task so he stuck to playing the drums. One day he picked up an acoustic guitar and naturally picked it up left-handed. His right arm could do the chords and his left arm was strumming and finger picking. All of a sudden, there was a spark and he decided that for his 18th birthday he wanted an acoustic guitar. For years Matt had been writing lyrics and dreamed of being a musician but struggled to see how, playing left handed showed the doctors wrong and had now found his own way to play the guitar.
My daughter Abbigale has ersb palsy also, she is three years old and we are trying to be as pptomistic about the future. Abbigale now has p.t. once a week and has mia fascia release done to her once a month. We have noticed some improvement in her reaching and rotating her arm, so i always recommend giving it a try. We take all the improvements with a smile and a prayer no matter how small :)
ReplyDelete