In July of 1968 my family moved to a suburb of Atlanta called College Park. College Park is where I spent the prime of my life that is Kindergarten through twelfth grade July 29, 1968 ā January 20, 1984. This is where I learned how tough life can be as well as what an awesome gift life truly is. It is here that I was taught many valuable lessons on the values of life. This is what you are about to read about the emotional and physical experiences that I have been through in life. That taught me some of the greatest lessons one could be taught about life.
an illness. You must get the child to think beyond the pains of surgery, beyond the confines of the hospital, beyond being ill. A child needs to understand that pain is only temporary and they need to be challenged to think beyond to wellness and the playground.
The doctors were still puzzled so observations were increased to about once every two months. In the summer of 1974 I played little league baseball and even though I stunk I was given the greatest memory of a lifetime. This came on a hot summer day in July. I was playing center field when a high fly ball came sailing my way as I caught it I never knew that the joy of catching a baseball was soon to fade away.
I returned to school hoping my fifth grade year would be I lived the life of an ordinary boy until my life began to change at the age of eight years and eight months in April 1972.
In April of 72 I went for a regular eye exam. This is when my ophthalmologist noticed my right eye was looking leftward. Puzzled he sent me to a neurosurgeon and after checking me out and doing an EEG on me that was totally normal they were still puzzled as to what was the cause The only conclusion that could be made was that the muscles in my right eye had weakened. So I went back to my eye doctor where they put me through strenuous exercises to strengthen my eye muscles to no avail. The doctors continued to observe me from time to time, but I was allowed to carry on as usual.
In 1973, I was allowed to play little league football. This is where I would begin to scar emotionally and learn the values of friendship. I began learning the valuable lessons of life as my life began to change more. While playing football I discovered that I spoke with a nasal voice the hard way. My teammates would ask me to say, "My name is Darrell Deeds", and then they would hold their noses and say the same thing mimicking the way I talked. I would go home crying to my mother asking her if I talked funny. With a motherās love she assured me over and over that I spoke like any other person and that we all talk differently. I know now that this is where my emotions began to callus from their scars. I asked myself the question, "Why do my friends at school not mimic the way I talk" The answer came to me so quickly. The answer was because these are your true friends. They are much more than your teammates from another school. You must understand my child your true friends can accept you as you are because they want your friendship in return. This is what my great friend taught me and this is where I began to value the gift of friendship. This is also where I met my dear friend Bruce and we still get together when we can. This also where my life began to change more. I began walking with a slight limp while playing little league football. This puzzled the doctors more.
After football season they took two detailed x-rays of my brain shooting dye up my spine. These x-rays showed nothing except on the second one they discovered I had a growth on my vocal cord, which I had to have removed not once, but twice. My thought was, as I feared the hospital tremendously why is all of this happening to me. This is where I learned to conquer a childās fears of surgery, the hospital, or a truly great year, but instead my life would soon change forever. October 20, 1974 began, as an ordinary day until school was out this is when my younger brother David and I got into a heated argument. A school safety patrol that I knew said she was going to turn us into the principalās office being worried that I had never been to the principalās office before I had my mom call the safety patrol to confirm that we were not going to get into serious trouble. After dinner I gave my Dad a hug to welcome him home from his union trip and to thank him for the cookies he had brought us. Then I headed down to the next street to throw football with a friend. Stopped by another friend on my way I started throwing the football with him. This is when a girl got me mad by picking my bicycle tire apart. I threw the football at her hitting her in the back. She ran inside and got her older brother who came and pushed me to the ground very hard. Hitting my head my body went into sudden shock causing me to regurgitate everything I had eaten for supper. My parents rushed me to the hospital after my brother who had come down called my parents. The doctors at the hospital gave me an anti brain-swelling drug. All I can remember is waking up with soiled underwear early the next morning. Two days later they put a shunt in my head to remove fluid from my brain. Two days after that they took a CAT scan. This showed that I had a brain tumor. The first question my parents asked was it cancerous. The doctors confirmed it was not by saying if it were cancerous I would not be alive. The second question was what were my chances of surviving The doctors gave no answer. They said our only hope is to dissolve the tumor with radiation therapy. A week and a half later I began to undergo six long weeks of radiation therapy. My hair fell out I could keep nothing down. I lost a considerable amount of weight. I wanted to know why I was going through all of this. I was told over and over that I did not have a brain tumor. When I returned to school in late January 1975 I knew then what I had lost. The thing I missed most was the ability to catch a baseball with my left hand take it out and toss it back with my right. I still grieve over this today. The second thing I missed most was the ability to walk with ease. I was only able to handle school for a little over a month before returning to home bound teaching. About a year and a half after having radiation therapy a CAT scan showed that the tumor had been dissolved. Not knowing I even had a brain tumor my parents showed no reaction to the great news the doctors gave them.
I know now that on October 20, 1974 was the day I became physically limited and spiritually challenged.
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In July of 1968 my family moved to a suburb of Atlanta called College Park. College Park is where I spent the prime of my life that is Kindergarten through twelfth grade July 29, 1968 ā January 20, 1984. This is where I learned how tough life can be as well as what an awesome gift life truly is. It is here that I was taught many valuable lessons on the values of life. This is what you are about to read about the emotional and physical experiences that I have been through in life. That taught me some of the greatest lessons one could be taught about life.
an illness. You must get the child to think beyond the pains of surgery, beyond the confines of the hospital, beyond being ill. A child needs to understand that pain is only temporary and they need to be challenged to think beyond to wellness and the playground.
The doctors were still puzzled so observations were increased to about once every two months. In the summer of 1974 I played little league baseball and even though I stunk I was given the greatest memory of a lifetime. This came on a hot summer day in July. I was playing center field when a high fly ball came sailing my way as I caught it I never knew that the joy of catching a baseball was soon to fade away.
I returned to school hoping my fifth grade year would be I lived the life of an ordinary boy until my life began to change at the age of eight years and eight months in April 1972.
In April of 72 I went for a regular eye exam. This is when my ophthalmologist noticed my right eye was looking leftward. Puzzled he sent me to a neurosurgeon and after checking me out and doing an EEG on me that was totally normal they were still puzzled as to what was the cause The only conclusion that could be made was that the muscles in my right eye had weakened. So I went back to my eye doctor where they put me through strenuous exercises to strengthen my eye muscles to no avail. The doctors continued to observe me from time to time, but I was allowed to carry on as usual.
In 1973, I was allowed to play little league football. This is where I would begin to scar emotionally and learn the values of friendship. I began learning the valuable lessons of life as my life began to change more. While playing football I discovered that I spoke with a nasal voice the hard way. My teammates would ask me to say, "My name is Darrell Deeds", and then they would hold their noses and say the same thing mimicking the way I talked. I would go home crying to my mother asking her if I talked funny. With a motherās love she assured me over and over that I spoke like any other person and that we all talk differently. I know now that this is where my emotions began to callus from their scars. I asked myself the question, "Why do my friends at school not mimic the way I talk" The answer came to me so quickly. The answer was because these are your true friends. They are much more than your teammates from another school. You must understand my child your true friends can accept you as you are because they want your friendship in return. This is what my great friend taught me and this is where I began to value the gift of friendship. This is also where I met my dear friend Bruce and we still get together when we can. This also where my life began to change more. I began walking with a slight limp while playing little league football. This puzzled the doctors more.
After football season they took two detailed x-rays of my brain shooting dye up my spine. These x-rays showed nothing except on the second one they discovered I had a growth on my vocal cord, which I had to have removed not once, but twice. My thought was, as I feared the hospital tremendously why is all of this happening to me. This is where I learned to conquer a childās fears of surgery, the hospital, or a truly great year, but instead my life would soon change forever. October 20, 1974 began, as an ordinary day until school was out this is when my younger brother David and I got into a heated argument. A school safety patrol that I knew said she was going to turn us into the principalās office being worried that I had never been to the principalās office before I had my mom call the safety patrol to confirm that we were not going to get into serious trouble. After dinner I gave my Dad a hug to welcome him home from his union trip and to thank him for the cookies he had brought us. Then I headed down to the next street to throw football with a friend. Stopped by another friend on my way I started throwing the football with him. This is when a girl got me mad by picking my bicycle tire apart. I threw the football at her hitting her in the back. She ran inside and got her older brother who came and pushed me to the ground very hard. Hitting my head my body went into sudden shock causing me to regurgitate everything I had eaten for supper. My parents rushed me to the hospital after my brother who had come down called my parents. The doctors at the hospital gave me an anti brain-swelling drug. All I can remember is waking up with soiled underwear early the next morning. Two days later they put a shunt in my head to remove fluid from my brain. Two days after that they took a CAT scan. This showed that I had a brain tumor. The first question my parents asked was it cancerous. The doctors confirmed it was not by saying if it were cancerous I would not be alive. The second question was what were my chances of surviving The doctors gave no answer. They said our only hope is to dissolve the tumor with radiation therapy. A week and a half later I began to undergo six long weeks of radiation therapy. My hair fell out I could keep nothing down. I lost a considerable amount of weight. I wanted to know why I was going through all of this. I was told over and over that I did not have a brain tumor. When I returned to school in late January 1975 I knew then what I had lost. The thing I missed most was the ability to catch a baseball with my left hand take it out and toss it back with my right. I still grieve over this today. The second thing I missed most was the ability to walk with ease. I was only able to handle school for a little over a month before returning to home bound teaching. About a year and a half after having radiation therapy a CAT scan showed that the tumor had been dissolved. Not knowing I even had a brain tumor my parents showed no reaction to the great news the doctors gave them.
I know now that on October 20, 1974 was the day I became physically limited and spiritually challenged.