• Katrina Smith

    Katrina Smith was born prematurely on October 16, in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Her life took a spin, when she was nine months old. Ms. Smith suffered severe brain damage, to all of her brain because of someone driving drunk. Ms. Smith was placed in the hospital in the ICU; Her brain was damaged so bad that, she was…

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  • Val Vera

    Valois J. Vera is a graduate of Purdue University and has professionally served as a Disability Rights Advocate. Born with Muscular Dystrophy, Val has traveled, sailed competitively, and coached youth sports. Val enjoys writing and, in addition to poetry, has contributed and written articles for magazines, newspapers, and online sources.

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  • Lyn Ludtke

    Dyslexic With A Twist So, I met this lady named Anna Adams who reached out to me asking if I would tell our daughter’s story. Sure, after all how hard can that be? Insert laugh. I cannot tell you how many times I have started and restarted this. I mean I totally lost count. I…

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  • Heather Panko

    Kevin’s Story I have always known my son, Kevin, was different. He hated loud noise with such a passion that I dreaded the 4th of July, New Year’s Eve, and even the fireworks at Disney World. All these things caused Kevin to have terrible meltdowns where he’d scream, hold his ears, and cry until I…

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  • Brian Swifts

    At the age of seventeen Chicagoan Brian Swift’s neck was broken while playing football with his friends on the sunny, chilly day after Christmas.  As he found the courage and strength to recover, graduate from high school, earn his college degree, and earn his Juris Doctor degree as a quadriplegic, he also found his purpose:…

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  • Cecilia Zwanzig

    Hello, my name is Cecilia! I am the youngest of five children born to Stanley and Veronica Zwanzig. My mother married my father at the age of twenty-five, which in the 1940’s was considered old for a woman. My mother was a very strong woman and a wonderful role model for us. My father was…

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  • James Sparhawk

    On September 10, 2012 James Sparhawk had a complete freak accident. He was too close to the edge on a roof of a 2 story house porch he was working on and fell. Due to his injuries, James became a complete T-10 paraplegic.  For a whole year, James stayed depressed. He decided to snap out…

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  • Carina Ortiz

    Hey everyone my name is Carina Ortiz. Since I was born my life has been full of struggles, but I’ve managed to fight them successfully. I can say that I pretty much had a normal childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. In my free time , my hobbies have changed throughout my life, but some of them…

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  • Betty Mekdeci

    Betty Mekdeci is the Executive Director at Birth Defect Research for Children. Her website is http://www.birthdefects.org/about-us/. On her website, Betty tells everyone how she feels that her sons birth defects were caused by medications she had taken .  Betty says “Our son was born with a small, undeveloped right hand and shorter arm; pectus excavatum…

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  • Texas Wren

    Hi, I’m Lauren. I am a 36 year old Mother of 3. I have all girls and their ages are 15,14, and 5 years old. My youngest Wren was born with Spina Bifida Myelomeningocele. Wren had to have surgery to close the opening in her spine that is the size of a baseball or large…

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