My Son Inspires Me!!!

Many of you know my son, Mikey. Excuse me, the other day he said Mike not Mikey. Regardless, you know who I am talking about.

Six or seven years ago my son came home from basketball practice and said that there was this droopy thing over his eye. My wife immediately recognized that his retina may be detatched. Her fears were confirmed and the next day we were in the hospital having surgery. It wasn't long that the same thing happened in his other eye. Unfortunately, the surgery was not as successfull in his second eye. They ended up having to do back to back surgeries to repair the retina. Along with that he had to have a cataract removed and an ocular lense implanted. His eye sight never really came back.

Laurie and the kids both struggle with Wagner-Stickler Syndrome. A disorder that effects connective tissue in the body. Their eyes...joints...mouth...ears...heart...any where tissue connects body parts.

Through it all Mikey continues to be an active energetic young man. Noone will ever know how much he has to adjust and how hard he has to work just to do the simplest of things. I have seen him on hands and knees patting the floor looking for his glasses because they had fallen off his face. I have heard him complain of pain in his arms just from throwing a baseball.

He inspires me to never give up. Before the surgeries (even though young) he was a stand out athlete...after the surgeries he found himself struggling to continue as an athlete, but he never gave up. He continued playing ball...even sitting through the humiliation of coaches not playing him "because of his eyes", and other kids yelling things about being blind while he was trying to bat.

The amazing thing...I have seen him in the top of his teams batting averages almost every season. He has to open up his stance just to get a glimpse of the ball with his right eye. He makes diving catches at second base, but it takes a little while for him to throw the ball because he has to relocate the bag after coming up with the ball. I love watching him play baseball because he has to work really hard just to be on the field...noone just gives it to him because he is friends with so and so. Sometimes the coaches put him in the outfield...the smart ones put him back at second as soon as possible... I have seen coaches intentionally embarass him. At times he wanted to quit, but he is now playing on the 15 to 18 year old Enterprise Rec team. I think he has the ability to play JV for the high school. With some practice...I wouldn't count him out of playing varsity ball for the Wildcats.

He also is a natural at motocross racing. He one the first and only three state race series he entered. He was so outstanding that he became a fan favorite. When people found out he was blind they stood in amazement as he would whip that motorcycle all over the track. As a matter of fact, his bike broke half way through the series. He was leading and his competitor provided a bike for him to finish the series. He loves racing dirt bikes...it scares us to death. But, he is really a good rider. A student of racing...he's amazing.

His grades are great...he never complains except that he feels hindered at times. He does his homework, he does have to sit up front. Gets paddled and doesn't tell his principal to be careful of his eye disorder. The teacher doesn't know he is hard hearing so they assume he is not paying attention. His friends parents love him and most his friends seem to have his back in the event when little scuffles break out...though I have heard he can hold his own. He was the first in our family to pass his driving permit on the first attempt. But, we did have to get a doctors slip saying he can drive.

He always overcomes regardless of his physical limitations. That's why my son inspires me! We all need to learn to overcome the things that hinder us!