Every new parent dreams of the moment they get to hold their perfect newborn for the first time. Unfortunately, that flawless moment didn't happen for my parents until my younger brother was born, four years after I was. When I was born I wasn't delivered correctly, and I suffered stretched and damaged nerves in my right shoulder and neck. From the moment I was born, a brachial plexus injury was a part of me.
Not many people know what a brachial plexus injury (BPI) is, or really what it means to families like mine. To the medical world, a BPI is "a term for a variety of conditions that may impair function of the brachial plexus nerve network," but for those of us who suffer from a BPI from birth, we are the 1%. In cases like mine, Erb's Palsy may also result. This is an injury of the upper brachial plexus which leads to loss of motion in the shoulder and elbow. When my parents noticed a lack of movement in my right arm, I started physical therapy to start me in the most normal direction possible.
I grew up like a normal kid. I went to school, I played any sport that came my way, and I had physical therapy to continue to increase my usage of my right arm. Ninety percent of people who knew me didn't know that anything was physically wrong with me. I wrote right handed and just did the tough stuff with my left hand. I played at recess like everyone else, and I did everything I could to be as close to normal as I possibly could.
By the time I hit fourth grade my family and I decided that we would try surgery to increase the mobility of my arm. On November 22, 2005, I had tendon lengthening surgery that would impact my life like I never thought possible.
Eighteen tough weeks of recovery and rehab wasn't fun, but I made an incredible bond with my team at Cincinnati Children's. Over the next nine years, I gained so much strength and mobility in my arm and shoulder and worked so hard to get better and better every day. Luckily, I've been blessed with not only an incredible team, but fantastic parents, family, and friends who pushed me, encouraged me, and supported me through the entire process.
I had my first real breakdown my second year of college when I actually said "I hate my arm." It brings me to tears to think that I said that because I struggled one time during workouts with my team. That night is just as important to me as the nights I reached goals. That night is important because it took nineteen years of dealing with a BPI for me to have a real mental struggle with my physical disability. At that time I had lived with Erb's Palsy for nineteen years and I only got upset with my disability one time. I had never got upset before because for my entire life no one ever told me that I was different, or that I couldn't do something. I have embraced my BPI because I'm not truly me without it. Erb's Palsy and a BPI make me who I am, and even though I'm not always happy with my disability, I'm incredibly proud to be the 1 in 1000 with a BPI.
