blast00
06-29-2009, 06:51 AM
so per recommendation from a friend, although it is VERY personal, and a sensitive topic for me, I have decided to share my life story with you guys to help motivate you.
summed up: I am 1 in 5 people to every survive an illness I had, I am the first person to ever walk after surviving the illness. now I lift weights. If any of you watch ESPN I was on one of the make a wish episodes because they thought I was going to die.
read on if you want to know more.
Maybe later I will post pictures but that is even a little more sensitive.
Warning: its going to be a long post, but it will be worth it if you are really looking to here about a miracle/ life inspiring story. I will cut out some details to try and make it not that long. Generally its a 3 hour conversation when I tell people.
Around the age of 11 I started to complain about severe pains in my right leg. My parents always said it was growing pains. Than, while walking on the way to school one day I fell, and had no idea at the time, but would not stand up for another 7 years. I could not get back up, and someone called 911 and an Ambulance came and took me to the hospital. Upon doing their initial tests they found out that I had a fever of 105.3. I was on the verge of death. They ran hundreds of tests on me, and could not figure out what was wrong with me. My parents spent every last dollar that had, transporting me to private doctors, everywhere in attempts to determine what was killing me. after 6 days I went into a comma. I was going to die. Than somehow, miraculously a doctor discovered what was wrong with me and I had a very very rare form of a tropical Staph Infection (for all of you non science people out there, I basically had an illness that was flesh eating, and flesh eating my leg from the inside out. It took them so long to figure out what I had because:
A. Cases were only EVER seen in the tropical jungles of Africa, and at the time I had never left New York.
B. Cases were EXTREMELY RARE, affecting 1 out of 10 million people, with only 2 survivors ever (fatality rate over 99.999%)
Immediate emergency surgery was performed, and what was left of my leg bone and muscle was removed (there was not much), and I was put into a wheelchair.
2 months had gone by, into my recovery and I still complained of pain. Everyone said I was just being stubborn and a baby, and my doctor was on a much deserved vacation. However, immediately he came back, felt my leg and knew something was still wrong. The infection was still there, and it had spread, up to my hip/ pelvic area. Once again, immediate surgery was performed, but this time the damage was more severe. My hip was destroyed.
my parents were given two options; either to have my entire lower body amputated to help prevent any reminants of the disease spreading; or to have a VERY (at the time, I was one of the first) experimental procedures done on my leg; metal fusion coupled with stem cell muscle injections (I am really simplifying the process, to this day I do not even fully understand what they did).
Anyway, they put 4 metal plates in my leg, in place of my femur bone which no longer existed, and took bones from my back to make an artifical hip. Then they put me in a full bodycast for 2.5 years, and I was told to be happy that I might live.
I was also told I WOULD NEVER walk again. guess what; I really pushed myself and persevered, while in my bodycast I learned to walk on my hands (my arms and way upper body were not casted). After being taken out, I had developed significant amounts of upper body strength, and was put in a wheel chair. After 2 years in a wheel chair and very intensive physical therapy, I found myself walking, with a walker, but walking.
It was a miracle. I was in all the local papers, on the news. It truely was incredible.
HOWEVER; I was not satisfied. I pushed myself beyond limits, and soon began to jog, and run, and lift weights. I grew stronger. I made a miraculously recovery, and someone made the cut for my senior year for the JV football team. It was the highlight of my life, and my parents.
Now I am trying to develop my body even further following a strict weight lifting routine, and I often face challenges. My flexibility is TERRIBLY messed up because of my leg. I also have the weakest legs you have ever seen compared to a humongous torso. I have about 40 total pounds of muscle on my lower body and over 80 on my upper body.
Bench: 185, squat: 65.
I am really now trying to work on doing the impossible and strengtehning my lower body. I am having trouble keeping myself motivated, as I said, I often run into very annoying obstacles. However, many people often tell me that all the scars I have on my body, I MOTIVATE THEM.
Hopefully, this post will motivate YOU.
If you took the time to read this long post, I hope it gave you a warm feeling.
thanks for your time.
summed up: I am 1 in 5 people to every survive an illness I had, I am the first person to ever walk after surviving the illness. now I lift weights. If any of you watch ESPN I was on one of the make a wish episodes because they thought I was going to die.
read on if you want to know more.
Maybe later I will post pictures but that is even a little more sensitive.
Warning: its going to be a long post, but it will be worth it if you are really looking to here about a miracle/ life inspiring story. I will cut out some details to try and make it not that long. Generally its a 3 hour conversation when I tell people.
Around the age of 11 I started to complain about severe pains in my right leg. My parents always said it was growing pains. Than, while walking on the way to school one day I fell, and had no idea at the time, but would not stand up for another 7 years. I could not get back up, and someone called 911 and an Ambulance came and took me to the hospital. Upon doing their initial tests they found out that I had a fever of 105.3. I was on the verge of death. They ran hundreds of tests on me, and could not figure out what was wrong with me. My parents spent every last dollar that had, transporting me to private doctors, everywhere in attempts to determine what was killing me. after 6 days I went into a comma. I was going to die. Than somehow, miraculously a doctor discovered what was wrong with me and I had a very very rare form of a tropical Staph Infection (for all of you non science people out there, I basically had an illness that was flesh eating, and flesh eating my leg from the inside out. It took them so long to figure out what I had because:
A. Cases were only EVER seen in the tropical jungles of Africa, and at the time I had never left New York.
B. Cases were EXTREMELY RARE, affecting 1 out of 10 million people, with only 2 survivors ever (fatality rate over 99.999%)
Immediate emergency surgery was performed, and what was left of my leg bone and muscle was removed (there was not much), and I was put into a wheelchair.
2 months had gone by, into my recovery and I still complained of pain. Everyone said I was just being stubborn and a baby, and my doctor was on a much deserved vacation. However, immediately he came back, felt my leg and knew something was still wrong. The infection was still there, and it had spread, up to my hip/ pelvic area. Once again, immediate surgery was performed, but this time the damage was more severe. My hip was destroyed.
my parents were given two options; either to have my entire lower body amputated to help prevent any reminants of the disease spreading; or to have a VERY (at the time, I was one of the first) experimental procedures done on my leg; metal fusion coupled with stem cell muscle injections (I am really simplifying the process, to this day I do not even fully understand what they did).
Anyway, they put 4 metal plates in my leg, in place of my femur bone which no longer existed, and took bones from my back to make an artifical hip. Then they put me in a full bodycast for 2.5 years, and I was told to be happy that I might live.
I was also told I WOULD NEVER walk again. guess what; I really pushed myself and persevered, while in my bodycast I learned to walk on my hands (my arms and way upper body were not casted). After being taken out, I had developed significant amounts of upper body strength, and was put in a wheel chair. After 2 years in a wheel chair and very intensive physical therapy, I found myself walking, with a walker, but walking.
It was a miracle. I was in all the local papers, on the news. It truely was incredible.
HOWEVER; I was not satisfied. I pushed myself beyond limits, and soon began to jog, and run, and lift weights. I grew stronger. I made a miraculously recovery, and someone made the cut for my senior year for the JV football team. It was the highlight of my life, and my parents.
Now I am trying to develop my body even further following a strict weight lifting routine, and I often face challenges. My flexibility is TERRIBLY messed up because of my leg. I also have the weakest legs you have ever seen compared to a humongous torso. I have about 40 total pounds of muscle on my lower body and over 80 on my upper body.
Bench: 185, squat: 65.
I am really now trying to work on doing the impossible and strengtehning my lower body. I am having trouble keeping myself motivated, as I said, I often run into very annoying obstacles. However, many people often tell me that all the scars I have on my body, I MOTIVATE THEM.
Hopefully, this post will motivate YOU.
If you took the time to read this long post, I hope it gave you a warm feeling.
thanks for your time.