I was born with Spina Bifida Lypomyelomeningocele, but was fortunate enough that the defect occurred at the lower part of my vertebrae and therefore I was better off than most in terms of leading a "normal" life.  You can find out more information here if interested, so I won’t go into all the medical details.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/spina-bifida/basics/symptoms/con-20035356

Because of the severity and frankly the fact that I was born at a time where Spina Bifida research was limited, the doctors told my mom that I most likely would never walk.  I was EXTREMELY fortunate to prove those doctors wrong and even though I have no control or feeling in my left leg from the knee down, I learned to walk and run and even played soccer for most of my childhood.  I still dealt with the typical Spina Bifida problems and learned a lifetime's worth about humility while attending school and dealing with those issues. I like to think it only made me stronger.

I won’t go into my life story, maybe someday I’ll write a book, but the older I got, the more I felt I had to prove to everyone around me, and the rougher I played.  I couldn’t play school sports, since I would never pass the physicals, so I stuck with the neighborhood sports and played with my friends who weren’t afraid to play rough with me and I loved it.  Football was my all-time favorite game and it resulted in a broken collarbone, meniscus tear in my knee and 3 fractured vertebrae.

When you have surgery after surgery after surgery, you build up scar tissue. Since those surgeries were in my back, that scar tissue pulled and tugged on my spinal cord causing extreme pain and spasms--the technical term is “tethered cord”.  Because I had a history of tethered cord, the doctors just assumed that’s what was causing the pain and spasms and by the time it was discovered to be more than that, it was too late.  The damage to my spinal cord was done and while I eventually had a spinal fusion to fix the broken bones, no surgery and no amount of pain medicine could fix the damaged spinal cord.

Even so, through the years I was able to get by with the pain and spasms because they were only in my left leg. When I was 15—after my bodycast was removed-I would cry and beg my mom to cut my leg off, but I learned to support myself with my right leg and my life was relatively normal. I would still play sports, I could work a regular job, drive myself around and all was right. After I turned 18 and was able to decide for myself when I needed to see doctors, I stopped going on a monthly basis.  I would see a specialist about every 2 years in hopes that technology had caught up and something could be done, but time after time I was told “Sorry, nothing we can do”.  I was even told by one Neurologist that I was “FUBAR”.  Not being in the military, I had to ask what that meant. You can look it up for yourself.

Aside from being barred from joining the Armed Forces to serve after 9/11, and not being able to join the Coast Guard or the NYPD because no amount of daydreaming could get me past their Physicals, my life was as good as it could be with my condition. I felt lucky.

Unfortunately, over the last 3-4 years the pain and spasms moved over from my left leg into my right, and started becoming a problem with my job, with driving and with standing and walking in general.  It finally became such an issue that I could no longer fulfill my job duties and had to go on disability.  After a Hail Mary-last ditch effort surgery ultimately failed, I now find myself having finally reached the day where I rely on a cane and wheelchair full time, because my legs have all but given up on me.

By the way--on a very serious side note--if you know a mad scientist that wants to experiment with bionic legs, I’ll gladly be the test subject.  The doctors don’t take me serious when I say this, but I couldn’t be more.

So here we are, my legs are no longer dependable but I’ve decided that I want to take this body as far as I can, so I’ve decided to make my new goal the Tokyo ParaOlympics in 2020.  I’ll eventually want to participate in as many sports as I can, but for the time being I’m looking at Swimming and/or Wheelchair Basketball.  

I know that with my amazing wife, Janice, and my supportive friends by my side, I'll be able to accomplish just about anything.  It will be an awesome journey, that I can't wait to be a part of.