Yes. You read the title correctly (and if you're clever enough, even realized it’s a play off Friends). But this is not just a shallow story about me. This is a story about all of us. This is the story of how truly nothing is impossible. This is a universal tale of the power of perseverance, failure, and extreme success and accomplishment.
It began with a cough. I had asthma growing up. It was expected that I was going to have some sort of respiratory problem because of my (already) growing medical issues. A cough became more than a cough, and turned into breathing like a Labrador retriever on hot summer day. Heavy breathing became more than heavy breathing and turned into constant Bronchitis or Pneumonia, which of course meant constant in and out Doctor’s trips and more and more hospital stays.
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In 2007, enough was enough. My parents and I got an appointment with a specialist to figure out the catch, what was wrong?
It was then that I got some of the worst news of my life: Either have the two bottom lobes of my right lung removed or stay sick constantly. My 2007 had officially been ruined between the Britney Spears meltdown and having (yet another) important organ removed from my body.
I was a singer. I was an actor. I had been singing since, quite literally, birth. I had been acting since I figured out how to pout in order to stay out of trouble as a child. Having a lung removed was going to completely change my life. I risked the chance of NEVER being able to sing again.
So I did what any 6th grader would do and shouted “Sign Me Up!”
Circa Summer of 2007, and I was being wheeled into a rather chilly operating room at LeBonheur Children’s Medical Center to be sliced open and have a vital organ removed from my body, and organ that was (is) necessary for living.
The surgery went extremely well, but it wasn’t the surgery that gave me a hard time.
About a week after surgery something happened.
Something felt like it popped inside of me. Then my breathing became shallow. Then, I stopped breathing. I had obtained what medical professionals call a “Pneumothorax” which basically means a collapsed lung. It wasn’t just any collapsed lung. It was the 1/3 of the lung that was removed just days earlier. I was put in Intensive Care Unit to recover, to stay alive.
I recovered and did a 180 degree turn around in a matter of days. I recovered so well, that I was sent home shortly after I had finished my stint in I.C.U.
The lung removal was only an appetizer for me. The real war began when I had to start re-learning how to function as a (sort of) normal human being. The real battle started with singing.
One thing my parents always taught me was to NEVER give up. Never stop fighting for what you believe in and to Always push until you get what you want, until you get what you need. So, I signed up for choir. Those first few years were the hardest I have ever worked to be up-to-par with the rest of the singers, to be “normal”.
Let’s fast forward. I’m still singing. I’ve taken four semesters of voice lessons. I may not be the best singer, but I have worked for the voice that I have, every day since 2007. I sill breath like a Labrador retriever, some even say Darth Vader, but it gives me a story. It gives me an open door to try and make a difference in someone’s life. That’s my dream, to impact someone the way actors, singers, dancers, professors, family, and friends have impacted me.
I’ve learned through trying to be “normal” that there has never and will never be “normal” with me. I like that. I enjoy being internally different (with one kidney and one lung). I wear my battle scars with pride, to show where I have been and where I am going.
I thank God that I have to fight. Fighting against the odds has become what I’m best known for. Fighting is what defines me as a person.
You’re a fighter too, you know.
Never give up. Never stop pursuing your dreams with a fury in your heart. Never let the unfortunate events of life define you as a person. Even in the fiercest storms, there’s always an opportunity to shine a bright light.
Whether you share the big dream of being on Broadway one day with me.
Whether your dream is to be a doctor, a lawyer, or a teacher.
Whether your dream is to be a parent, a spouse, or a friend.
The only person stopping you from achieving your dream is the amount of effort you’re willing to put forward.
So, take a deep breath, prepare your heart, and Fight.
