When I was 5 1/2 years old, I had a stroke that completely paralyzed the left side of my body. The doctors told my parents that I would always be crippled. My Dad insisted to my mother and me that I was going to not only recover, but I was going to walk out of the hospital, not ride out in a wheelchair. He seemed so sure that I believed him, and a couple days later I started to move the muscles in my left side. 13 days after the stroke which destroyed the part of my brain that controlled all the voluntary movement in the left side of my body, I ran out of the hospital. My doctor, Dr. Gertan, one of the top children's neurologists in the East Coast, was amazed. No one could explain my recovery. He asked if they could film me for the children's miracle network fundraiser. My dad said yes, so we told my story on the television. While in the hospital I saw children who were dying, or crippled and unable to make themselves better. I will never forget "Little Johnny". He was a tiny African American , 3 year old boy, who shared the I.C. Unit with me. He had tubes in his throat so he could not talk, but his eyes were so gentle and expressive. We became friends. After I started getting better I was moved into a regular room. I shared it with a 15 year old girl named Delilah. I did not understand why she looked so thin that you could see the shapes of her bones through her skin. She was very nice to me, and my mom gave her art lessons. I remember how when I was in the hospital my parents took turns staying with me. They never left me alone. But I did not see any other parents doing that.  After I totally healed and started to forget that I was ever paralyzed, my parents told me, what they had kept from me in the hospital. That a part of my brain had died, that I was never suppose to be normal again, that I was not suppose to be able to get up and run out of the hospital and that Little Johnny and Delilah had died from their diseases. They understood that they had to convince me that I was going to be ok, so that I could rise above my situation, or I might not have been able to do it. If I would have known at the time that my two room mates were dying, it would have been harder to believe that I was going to get better.

I am home-schooled and by choice a vegetarian. My interests include; art, digital graphics, writing, martial arts, gardening, natural environments, reading science fiction, different cultures, Japanese anime, film making and environmental-humanitarian issues. Examples of my creativity can be viewed in the Art Division on this site.