Living with Cerebral Palsy

Yesterday, a gentleman added me to his friends list on FaceBook. He is an amazing man! He was born with a mild case of cerebral palsy in 1939. In a time when many children were put in homes, or always kept at home, he graduated from public school and went on to college. But, he was not through facing unimaginable challenges (even for some of us with CP):

Phil Stephens

During the sixties I had five neurosurgeries to relieve my spasticity. The first four surgeries were successful, but the fifth surgery caused a major stroke- thus my present disability. For people who haven’t seen me since high school, I am in a wheelchair, I have no voice, I communicate by pointing to words on a chart. The fifth surgery was in 1970. Some years later, I leaned my surgery was experimental, and the risk of stroke was high. My surgeon was the top neurosurgeon in Calif. And he told me the risk was very low.

I think what makes Mr. Stephens so amazing is the fact that he did not give up. Despite adversity in his life, he still tries to keep as active as possible, pursue his interests, and enjoy life:

In 1972, I entered Fresno state to work on my Master’s in Economics, and help setup a disabled students program at CSUF. I was with this program eighteen years. When the director retired, I also left. I was burnt out, and I did not want to break in a new boss. My home is near the campus.

Mr. Stephens has traveled extensively in the past. He really has made the most of his life, despite living with cerebral palsy. Like all of us, he has good and bad days. But, like me, it is his faith in God that sustains him:

My faith in GOD sustains me through the difficulties of life. On the other hand, at times I get angry with GOD. I never ask “why me”, but I often tell GOD “enough is enough“. I believe we are all tools of GOD. I usually go to the church nearest my home. At present I am a member of the Newman Center.

If you want to read more about this amazing man, go to his website: A very Interesting Life.

If you are living with cerebral palsy, please contact me with your story of you own very interesting life.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 23rd, 2010 at 11:54 am and is filed under living with Cerebral Palsy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.