Support from others can support you

  • Published
  • By Tyler Grimes
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AFB, Calif. --  Since I can remember, I have always loved scary movies. Though my parents found this type of entertainment distasteful, they were willing to try anything to get me to walk including using these movies to motivate their son. So the deal was when I could walk around the perimeter of our house 100 times without falling, they would let me see a film of my choice.

There was one movie that I was dying to see, "Child's Play," it was about a possessed toy that terrorized people in various ways. I thought it sounded like the best movie ever made and I would do anything to see it. To most people who are reading this, it must seem like a pretty simple task. But for me, this was the hardest thing I ever had to do.

I was born with cerebral palsy, a condition that causes severe muscle tightness through either the right or left side of the body. The doctors told my parents there was very little chance that would be able to walk or speak intelligibly.

Naturally, my parents were devastated by this news. However, instead of giving up hope of a normal life for me, they encouraged me to learn to walk any way they could.

They took me to physical therapy every day for the first three years of my life. The exercises were agonizing. There were many times I wanted to quit, but my parents wouldn't let me. They witnessed progress while all I felt was pain.

I remember saying to my mother on many occasions that all this work was pointless and I would never be able to walk no matter what I did.

"You can do anything in this life. Nothing can stop you," she would respond.

Eventually, I was able to stand up and take a few steps before falling down. For myself, I thought this would be as good as it gets but my father knew otherwise. He would use incentives to entice me to work a little longer and walk a little farther. When I was four years old, it was that movie that gave me the motivation to change my life.

With this goal in mind, I practiced day and night to achieve this. There were many moments of frustration and thoughts of surrender but my family and friends cheered me on every step of the way - literally.

After 27 days and countless attempts, I finally did it. I was very proud of this accomplishment but as I looked into my father's eyes, I realized that he was feeling a whole range of emotions I didn't fully understand at the time.

That night, we rented my movie.

I spent most of it with my face buried in the cushions and could not tell you who was in the movie or how it ended. What I can tell you is how great it felt completing that final lap and thinking to myself, "I can walk."

At the end of the day, it's up to us to succeed at our goals. However, it is the people around us helping along the way that can make all the difference.