I was born with Spina Bifida . For having the worst type of spina bifida I had the best case scenario. I started walking a little over a year old I met all my milestones on time. The only thing I knew was a kid is that I had had surgery as a baby to connect my spine other than that I was the same as any other kid. I could walk run jump climb. My intelligence was not compromised. But by the age of 13 I had developed severe migraines and the doctors found out I was leaking spinal fluid. Five surgeries later the doctors accidentally cut the nerves to my legs. At 13 years old I was now paralyzed from the waist down. I didn’t have much time to mourn the loss of my legs. My family was homeless at the time which made things extremely more difficult. Months later when I was released from the hospital AMA we lost our home again. I spent my teenage years homeless on the streets of Omaha. When I look back on it I have no idea how I survived. I’m not looking for a pity party when I say this but my life has been one tragedy after the other. My dad was killed in a car accident months before I was born. My mom remarried my brothers father and he molested me until I was eight years old. She finally left him but it wasn’t long before she met an equally shitty person. he beat my mom every single day for five years. I remember at one point I locked her in a elevator push the start button to try to make her hear me and understand that she needed to leave him I was 10 years old. It took three more years before she got The strength to walk away. A couple months go bye and she met another man. He also abused her in the beginning of their relationship. They actually got married but I didn’t go to the wedding. When my mom lost our house for the second time. My brother went to live with his father in Council Bluffs. There was no way in hell I was going there. Not after what he had done to me. My mom and her boyfriend went to a boarding room. And I what’s the couch hopping from One friends house to the next. My friends parents got tired of that quick. Before long I was literally straight sleeping on the streets of Omaha. After about six months completely alone I met a few people that were in a gang and I joined it. It wasn’t your typical violent gang. We were all lost kids looking for a family. After over five years on the street I became very ill my kidneys were failing because of a severe UTI. I ended up in the hospital for weeks. When it was time to go home my mom actually came to go get me and found us a place to live. The tough part about that was I had been on my own for so long when she tried setting boundaries and rules I wasn’t having it. Shortly after that I get my first apartment and I am working at PRC and Sitel. I met my sons father when I was 20. We had Logan at 23 I’m here has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. But having him took it’s toll on my body. I ended up with the pressure wound for the first time in my life. For the next 10 years I was in and out of the hospital several times a year.