[Diabetes-Talk] more about me and my background

[ryan mcmanomy]

                Cancer!!

Ryan McManomy
Hello people I am not here to talk about me in such away that I want you to feel sorry for me or to think I am having a pity party for my self!  I am here to tell you how I over came some mager obstacles in my life and how we usually do not have it as bad as we think sometimes.

I think it is safe for me to say that we all have had our own hurtles and difficulties in our lives. I would like to share with you how I have overcome a few of my challenges in my life and how I am still working on them.

I was born in Lafayette on Oct. 15, 1979.
I was quote unquote normal in all ways I had 20 20 Vision

At this time my little brother Evan was brought in to the world.
At the age of 4 I started to have bad headaches and after a lot of tests my parents were told that I have a brain tumor and it is cancerous!
So they have a choice to make I will go blind if I have the surgery but if I do not I die!!
So at the age of five I went under and had a successful operation.
I went home and after about 4 months of radiation and Chemotherapy I was put in first grade at a public school.
At this time my little Sister Tonya arrived!

Less then six months went by and I started to lose my sight.
At the age of 7 I was taken to the Indiana school for the blind.
I was having a really hard time with my loss of sight I did not understand how this could happen to me!
As if this was not bad enough the Dr.'s realized at this time that I was not growing at the normal rate and found out that do to the radiation and chemo that my growth cells were almost nonexistent and had to put me on growth hormones which for Those of you who do not know what this is. It is a form of steroids!
So now I can be made fun of because of how big I got in such a short time.
I was mad at the whole world and let them all know it!
I can only imagine what my parents were going through.
I was only 7 at this time and did not understand or care what they may be going through!!
After I started to stop feeling sorry for myself and started to get to know the kids at the school I began to realize that these kids are just like me
in one way or another.

So I began to make friends and start to be a kid just like all the other kids!!

I started to learn Braille and to do the best I could!
The school was very hard for me because I had to be away from my family who up until this time had been my support.
I had to be away from them for a week and only see them on the weekends!
So I continue to go through with school and very slowly began to get a grip on my anger!
As my brother and sister both got older I know it was hard for them as well!
Not only from the stand point of them trying to understand why there older brother is not able to do every thing they like to play or why he is not at home during the week.

Not to mention that I am sure at times it may have seemed as if I got more attention from mom and dad because of my blindness.
As my brother and sister got older and started to make there own friends I got more and more left out of the action. I had my friends from school but the nearest one was 3 to 4 hours away so on the weekends I spent a lot of time by myself!
I read a lot during these times that I spent by myself.
All through out school I was an average student and just did enough to get by with the least amount of work until 8th grade.
At this time I had what the whole school considered the strictest teacher in the school!
I had her for English and at first we did not get along at all but as time went on I realized that she was changing me and it was for the better!
I was no longer a student who just wanted to get by but I wanted to do the best I could!
So from 8th grade until 12th grade I got honor roll every semester.
But by this time I was not only doing the best I could at the time but was trying to make up for the past years that I did not take seriously.
I graduated with my class in June 6th 1999.
This showed to me that what ever I put my mind to I could do!
I was still having hard times but realized that sometimes you cannot do anything about it.
I was never one for sports and I know that my dad was so proud of my brother and sister for doing so well in base-ball basket ball and for the longest
time I felt that I let my dad down because I did not do any thing like this.
My dad was taking my brother and sister to look at cars after they got there driver's license but I knew in time if I ever needed to go some where that
they would go out of there way to take me.
But that did not stop me from thinking that I would never be car shopping with my dad.
One thing I have to keep in my head is that as much as I wish I could see and drive, I have it better then some.
I have one of my best friends and one day he asked me something that really made me step back and think. He asked me what the color blue looked like.
And of course my first response was that blue looks like the sky or like calm water.
But then I realized that he has never had his sight so how does he know what the sky or calm water looks like?
I have known some teachers to try to explain it by saying the red is hot and blue is cold but that seems so inaccurate of a definition.
So this really made me appreciate the little sight I have and not to take it for granted!

After I graduated I wanted to go to computer school but a sited friend I had at the time told me that I would never make it in the computer field because I was blind! Obviously he was not as good as a friend as I thought but this kept me going when I wanted to quit. But I was bound and determined to prove him wrong and I did!
I have my high school saying that I still use to these days and maybe it is something that could help you!
It is Just because you can't see the stars don't mean you can't reach for them