Running for an hour was hard work. But, recovering this week was exceptionally brutal. My running streak was broken, but not before I got in one last mile run hobble on Monday night. I expected my recovery to be harder than average, because my right leg is an inch and a half shorter than my left. I have Cerebral Palsy. I’ve had it all my life. In fact, doctors once told my parents that they shouldn’t let me run or play outside with friends because I might injure myself. I still want to punch that doctor in the face. Who tells a kid not to play? What that doctor should have told my parents was to sign me up for weight lifting and track and field.
Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a physical disability caused at birth that affects 800,000 people in the United States. Cerebral Palsy is a broad term applied to anyone with a wide swath of motor skill problems. Some people with CP have difficulty speaking, which makes communication difficult. Many mentally impaired people also have Cerebral Palsy, but most people with CP are not mentally impaired. Even in 2010, Wikipedia has difficulty keeping the two straight giving the impression that people with CP are intellectually challenged.
Defying Stereotypes
This post will serve as a “sneeze page” or table of contents for inspiring people with Cerebral Palsy. Those of us lucky enough to have a mild impairment often go unnoticed, and can accomplish some pretty amazing things. As I write more about each of these people I will fill out this list with stories that I hope will hope inspire the abled as well as the disabled.
- John Quinn just retired from the Navy having kept his Cerebral Palsy a secret for more than 20 years. His biography is going to be an exciting read.
- Chris Broyles runs a 6 minute mile on his high school team. Can you do that?
- Connor Chadwick is an 18 year old cross country runner with an 8 minute mile
- Marcus Boyer made news for picking up cross country running in the 7th grade
- Nicole Lang competes well on her track team in the shot put event
- Katy Fetters enjoys hiking, charity push up contests, and writes a wonderful blog called Teen Cerebral Palsy
- Tina Matsunaga is an accomplished freelance writer with an English degree who keeps a blog on Living with Cerebral Palsy
Over the next week, I’ll be writing about each of these inspiring people as well as sharing exercise tips that took me from couch potato at 24 to athlete at 30.
My father always says there’s “no such thing as can’t.” So, why can’t you run a marathon? The next time you’re feeling too lazy to take advantage of the marvelous gift and ability you have, remember to cherish your gifts and look forward to the rewards provided by vigorous exercise. Don’t let your body go to waste.
Make a Difference
If you find this inspiring, and want to make a difference, take a minute to link to me or, share this post with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail. If someone had told me when I was 8 that I could be running in a marathon at 30, it would have changed my life.
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Comments About Inspirational People with Cerebral Palsy
// 10 comments so far.
Adelaide Dupont // April 18th 2010
Hey, Greg.
I’m glad you put Tina on your Inspirations List.
She wrote a great boot camp post known as “Living with Cerebral Palsy is NO excuse!”
Yes, it would definitely have changed your life.
Maybe it will change some eight-year-old kid’s life, or their family’s life.
It can be harder when parents or peers tell that same kid not to play.
Yes, Wikipedia has a bit of a disability there. Someone I really admire on Wikipedia is Paul Melville-Austin, who has CP too. He is a big Enid Blyton fan, which makes him a winner in my book and eyes.
Sarahfae // April 20th 2010
Greg – thank you so much for writing this and sharing part of your story.
tony // August 10th 2010
hey Greg i would like to tell you a little story my life.
It was a hot and humid day in June. When my mother received the tragic news that would affect the rest of our lives. The doctor told my mother that I wound never walk or talk, because I was born with cerebral palsy.
When I was an infant. My family was very support of me they knew that something was wrong with me. But the whole family said, I would be fine he is a strong baby. My mother seen that I couldn’t use my left side but I could uses my right side. Then my mother new that I would be fine in her heart but, she new I would not get better. She believes if she works with me she can make it go away. But, she new it would not go away. My mother tried to teach me how to talk but I would not say a word. Furthermore, I never crawled because I could not use my left arm. When I tried to crawl, I was unable to pull myself up so I would just lie there. Because of this, I had to stay in my crib at times. My mother never gave up on me she worked with me everyday unit I was eighteen months old.
On a day in fed was one the most proudest days in my mother life. Some how I pull myself up with my right arm and I began to walk around the coffee table. I got half way to the other side and my mother was overjoyed with tears. Then I fell. A couple of weeks when by and I was getting better at walking and saying a couples of words. Then my mother calls the doctors and makes appoint for a check up. When we went to the doctors and my mother had The biggest smile for ear to ear. When the doctor came in the room he stated and asking my mom how I’m doing and she said, do u want to see something. Then she put me down and I started to walk. The doctor said that great the doctors said, we need to change my treatments immediately to a more appropriate for me.
My chance in life was limited my disorder. The reason why I say that is because I Couldn’t do what the other kids were doing. When I try riding my bike I fell when I fell I just got back up and keep on trying. The other kids were climb tress I would be at home. Crying because I can’t climb a tree so I just stay home unlit my friends was done playing. They came and got me after they was done playing the tress. My friend never made fun of me because they knew something was wrong with me.
When I was growing up attending school was very difficult for me. It seems that Every school was passing me one not teaching me anything. Finally, we moved out of Detroit after livening there for ten years. To Hazel Park. It was hard to leave my friends behind. The reason we had to move was so I could receive a better education. This was because the Detroit schools were not teaching me anything. They were just passing me to diffent classes each year. I didn’t like the move to Hazel Park because I didn’t know anybody.
It took me a couple of weeks to make a new friend. When I made a friend his name was Mike and he told me that he knew how it felt to be the new person in town. We started doing everything together, such as going to the mall, shopping, and going to the movies. He helped me the most when his friends became to my friends too.
When I made it to Jr High School, I didn’t know anyone. This was because all of my friends went to a diffent school then I did. I went to a special Ed school. It took me a while to adjust to my new school because I had not made any friends yet. When I did made a new friend his named Rob and he was in all of my classes. He helped me with my work. At lunch, we always ate together. Then one day, Rob was not in school. They told the whole school that Rob got hit by a car and died. It took me a long time to get over it and to today I am still not over it. I think we would have been friends for life! My greatest accomplishment was getting my high school diploma in June of 2002.
When people said, that I wouldn’t get my diploma and I did so I prove them all wrong by do so. Now i’m in colleges has open my eyes to new challenges. Faced with these new challenges, I found that higher education was more difficult than I anticpated. It’s more difficult for me because attended Special ED classes during high school. Therefore, I wasn’t challened the way I should have been. When I did attend high school classes, I achieved good grades because I work extra hard. I believe they a mistake when I was placed in special education courses. Now that i’m in college, I can finally advance my education and reach the potential I’m capable of.
This is the first time that I’ve been on my own. At first I was scared, but now I know that I will be all right. I know that I will miss my family and friends, but this is something I must do. Also, I’m the first one in my family to go to college. I’m very proud of myself, not only because I’m the first from my family to go attend college, but also because of the obstacles that I have overcome to get here. This is how college has changed and changing my life.
Greg // August 18th 2010
Thank you so much for sharing your story. It will be an inspiration to those of us who read it. I’m sorry to hear about your poor experience with teachers and doctors. I know what it’s like to be confronted with crappy doctors. They told me over and over again how bad things would be for me as an adult. Thankfully, they were wrong.
Overcoming years of “special” treatment by your primary school teachers will make college challenging, but challenges are fun. I wish you luck in college.
Molly // August 27th 2010
Hey Greg, I’m a 21 year old runner with Cerebral Palsy…or at least I’ve started to become one. I’ve done 3 5ks now (just signed up for a 4th in October). In no way are my times as impressive as some of the athletes you listed, but I’ve recently been toying around with the idea of taking to running more seriously since almost all of the 5ks i’ve done have been more walk than run and I really would like to do a marathon someday. I literally just can’t sleep and decided to google CP, running, and blog. Your post came up and I’m so glad it did! Thank you so much for this inspiration! Any advice or words of wisdom you could give would be awesome, you can check out my few running posts on my blog! Molly
Molly // August 27th 2010
Hi Greg! My name is Molly and I’m a 21 year old runner with Cerebral Palsy…or at least I’m starting to become one. Last October I did my first 5k. I’ve done 2 since and just signed up for the same October race again this season. My times are in no way as impressive as those of some of the people you listed in your blog, but lately I’ve been toying with the idea of getting more serious with running (since my races have been more walk than run) for both the physical and mental benefits, and even have the hope of competing in a marathon someday. I typed CP runner blog into Google and this was one of the posts that came up. Thank you so much for writing it. It might be just the inspiration I need to get going with this. Any advice you could give also would be appreciated and you could check out my few running posts on my blog! Thanks again for the post.
-Molly
Greg // August 27th 2010
Molly,
I too did a similar search on cerebral palsy and running before writing this post. Thanks so much for leaving a comment and letting me know you enjoyed my post. I’ve subscribed to your blog and I’m excited to read about your experiences running.
I attempted to respond to your question as a comment and I couldn’t respond with few enough words. So, I wrote a blog post on running with cerebral palsy.
mike w. // April 07th 2011
Great post Greg, as was the one on running with CP. I’m a 25 year old with mild CP and ran cross country in high school. I really need to get back into it and get to the point where I can at least run 5K’s at a respectable pace again.
Greg // April 07th 2011
Thanks Mike! I spent my high school days in a leg brace, which didn’t stop me from playing football with my friends, but at the time I didn’t consider running to be something that I could do well. You should get back into running and tell us more about your experiences.
mike w. // April 11th 2011
Ah, I had leg braces as a kid but was done wearing them by the time I hit highschool, partly due to stubbornness and partly due to sports.
I’m trying to decide if I want to get back into running slowly, or go all out and start torturing my body with the hill workouts we used to do in high school.
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