No regrets and living life to its fullest

Last night I received an e-mail from a reader who asked me if I have any regrets about having Cerebral Palsy. In response I told them Lets be honest, at times it does suck. After a long day at school I'll sometimes lay in bed clenching both my legs because of what feels like railroad spikes being driven into them.

I'll wake up in the morning so hunched over that it looks like I'm an eighty year old man at the age of twenty. And lets not forget the tremors I receive throughout my body which make me look like I just showered in my own sweat.

However, it is a part of me and more then likely it always will be, even if researchers ever do find a cure. My Cerebral Palsy has brought me to so many people who I may never have met otherwise. It has allowed me to appreciate the philosophy of show me what you can do and not what you can't do.

Life presents us with all sorts of challenges that can be difficult and hard to deal with. In response, we can either do one of two things. We can shut ourselves out from the people we care about and say I'm not going to make it.

Or we can recognize the fact that even though we might not have been given the best hand we are going to try our best to be a winner in the game of life. Sometimes, you will lose and you will fail. But that's only natural. But what you cannot do is be afraid to fail.

Over the past three months I can feel my muscles starting to tighten. The pain at times, caused me to question my optimistic nature and  try to push away the people I care about the most. I thought my disability was causing me to fail. But on the contrary, it was my attitude towards my disability that was causing me to fail.

We must remember that in all dark times there will always be light  at the end of the tunnel. For me, my light has been my family and my friends. I regret nothing of who I am and if I had a chance to live my life any other way, I would do it the same all over again. I am truly blessed.

-This article is dedicated to the people who show me the light every day. My parents, Lizz Raffa, Meaghan Goode, Rob Macario, Josh Batch, and Emil Ishley.