There's something I've wanted to say here for a long time. [View all]

I can walk again.

All the drugs and the surgeries and the therapies have paid off- eight years after sitting down in a wheelchair I am finally able to rise and step away from it.

Oh, I still have a long way to go- my leg muscles were almost completely atrophied due to the severity of my illness, but little by little I got better and I'm getting ready to leave the prison of that damned chair behind me. Trust me when I tell you that the ability to walk to the bathroom or the kitchen is not an ability to take for granted.

I sincerely hope that none of you ever find out first hand what it's like to find yourself limited in such a fundamental way. It's very hard to mentally assimilate all the changes it forces upon a person, and I know it can leave one angry and bitter. Fortunately for me my personal philosophy helped me to stay hopeful and not end up hating life.

The best of luck to all of you who walk the path with a smile on your face. And if you happen to look down and see strange footprints in the dust at your feet, they may just be mine. You never know!