Support When Needed….

This morning I have had the opportunity to spend the morning with my son relaxing. I didn’t do any racing or any traveling because I have been focusing on my training more to get with my Boston Schedule. I have been working online a lot and speaking with different people in all areas of the world sharing my message to them. Last night I was contacted by a woman that absolutely astonished me!

At first this woman seemed to be like any normal woman, just asking questions of my story and how she can contact me for more information. I immediately responded to her with all she wanted and she submitted me a video that simply took my breath away! As I watched her video my eyes filled with tears because I recalled being in that same situation this woman was once in but the difference is she is paralyzed from the waist down now for the rest of her life. Our similarities were that she was also given little chances of survival, she pulled through that, she was also told she would never walk again or move her arms again and she now has a metal rod in her arm and can move them and she can also walk between the parallel bars with someone behind her. Her name is Maria and she is a Pre K teacher from a small town like me in Georgia.

Maria gave me her cell phone number and I had to call her to talk after seeing the photos and watching her video. She kept saying to me you are amazing I am so glad you will open up and talk to me about all of this and try to help me. I thanked her, then she said I have so many problems finding people that will connect with me about tragedy in their life. I told her it took me many years to overcome my fears of the opinions of others and stepping outside of this small town comfort zone. But once I realized I was actually the strongest person I knew and my story was a huge help to everyone I found joy in my life I’d never had before! She went on to tell me more of herself and how happy she was, but she kept going back to how she wanted to get involved with the racing I do to participate with her children. She couldn’t get her insurance to help her any on getting another chair and the one she was trying to purchase at the moment she couldn’t afford. Hearing all of this makes me furious! My full time job is a dental office manager and I deal with insurance companies on a daily basis. I hear the most outrageous reasons for the denial of dental work all the time. But since I have been working with friends and people from everywhere with the racing that are disabled I am hearing it goes the same way with health insurances. There are different stipulations on dental insurances I have learned over the years, with missing tooth clauses or possibly a waiting period. But to hear that health insurances put these same stipulations on something like this is out of this world crazy! These are our legs, our way of moving, most people will never know how it feels to not be able to walk again and have to depend on a chair to move you around. If you want to do something positive like do a local 5k or 10k with your children in a wheelchair that can support you I feel it should be covered without any exceptions!

This brings to mind another issue I have experienced in my past I have never spoke of. When I was going through my divorce I was living on what I tell people was absolute SKID ROW! I had no money at all to eat and did I mention I had a child. I was working full time, and I had a house I was paying for and a car and my son was still in diapers at that time. My ex-husband wasn’t paying any child support to me then and I refused to let that house be foreclosed on. I was not going out like that, I haven’t given up on much in my life and hearing that bastard tell me I wouldn’t be able to handle it all made me push even harder. I reached a point where I was paying my bills but they were falling behind because I was on such a fixed income and I wouldn’t ask for any help from anyone because I didn’t want people to know the situation. Finally I swallowed my pride and went to my bank after I received the first foreclosure notice. I applied for help with a grant for single mothers losing their home or for just financial assistance for me and my son and I was denied this! I didn’t have time to argue over it because I was still in and out of court with my husband and working so much so I just struggled and got through that tough situation in life! But the point is that I worked, and I see many people daily that are capable of working, get things handed to them without being denied anything. So when I hear my friends or disabled people that actually wish to do something good in life by spending time with their children at a race get denied healthcare it breaks my heart!

After speaking with Maria this morning my mind has been rolling with ways to help her and her family. My beliefs are that we all get through the tough times in our lives but we do all need some support sometimes to help us along. If it isn’t financial we deserve to hear someone say everything will work out, stay strong… You got this! When I look at difficult issues today I remember myself in my wheelchair and I know I am bulletproof at this point and things aren’t so difficult but not every person has reached this point in life. So my advice to end this entry is always share your strength with others, it makes such a difference!!!