A mistake at birth left me with Cerebral Palsy, When I was born the doctor that was on duty that night didn't follow the x-rays that were in my mother's file and went ahead and did the procedure his own way. Instead of delivering me by C section he pulled me with forceps and just tossed me in one of those baskets and left me on the floor not breathing while he tried to stop my mother from bleeding. During the time I spent without oxygen I developed Cerebral Palsy. I started therapy 1 1/2 years later; trunk, abs, legs and neck, just so I could hold my head up and crawl.
I grew up with 80's movies; Rocky, Rambo, Arnold, etc. And every time I'd watch one I'd think to myself, "that's so cool, I want to look like that." When I was around 6 years old there was a T.V. show called The Incredible Hulk. I used to watch it every week and I found out that the actor who played the hulk had a handicap so I figured if he could get that big I could too, ha! He's deaf! Then when I was 11 I saw Conan the Barbarian on its opening day and after that I always wanted to be a bodybuilder. I would go hit the weights after watching a movie. Also, in the 80's there were shows about the future, like "in 1988 world war III will begin and people will start eating each other movies. "Red Dawn" and "Road Warrior". I had the thought that I didn't want to be left behind, so I worked out.
My junior high had a weight room and there I did leg presses and curls. I also bought muscle magazines and took weight gainers, Joe Weider tablets.
My brothers owned Tak Kwon Do studios and every time they closed one I'd get the weights, rusty Weider plates, ankle weights and dumb bells. Not until 1984 did I really start wanting to get big. I had a huge setback with my hip surgery in 1986; I had to start over, as soon as I was out of the cast, I went into a K-Mart, I bought more ankle weights and wore them on my wrist the summer of '86.
In high school, working out made me feel better and stronger. The high school had a weight room and my uncle owned a gym, so I worked out in both places though out the rest of the 80's. My teachers and physical therapists had a conference at the end of my 9th grade, I guess to see how I was doing in a main stream school/ classes. Anyway, my old therapists said it was a bad idea for me to work out, that it would do something to my Cerebral Palsy and she had no idea what she was talking about. Now, studies show working out improves Cerebral Palsy.
In the mid 90's, I was reading Muscle Mag and read of a disabled person looking to compete in bodybuilding.
The magazine told him to contact Frank Dalto, I did the same. During these years I trained regally, but let my weight get over 150 lbs. I made up my mind in 2004 to cut my body fat and compete. I have been seriously training/dieting since. Ten years after my first call to Frank, I competed at Nationals for the first time.
Wheelchair bodybuilding means the world to me and it's something I can't walk away from. Even coming close to dying after 2007 Nationals from Phenomena didn't stop me from coming back! Dennis James, my trainer was voted 5 time NPC Trainer of the year.
One of the main things I try to do is open doors for many other disabled people, e-mailing them back, showing them how to get into bodybuilding and making wheelchair bodybuilding bigger and better, whatever I can do to help someone better their lives. Lastly, for me is getting bigger and better every year and make the sport grow.
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