A Day Late and a Dollar Short

    October 6th is World Cerebral Palsy Day. I was completely unaware of this, as I’m sure many around the world are as well. Cerebral Palsy, as it is with so many disabilities and disorders in our world, is not a common topic of conversation, so for most, the ignorance to the topic, and the significance of October 6th each year, can be excused, but what is a person with Cerebral Palsy to say in defense of their own ignorance?

    My name is Bradley Blake Hargett, I am 37 years old, and was diagnosed with CP at an early age, if memory serves me correct, the diagnosis happened around my 1st birthday. As my mother tells it, she initially became concerned when she had difficulty straightening out my legs while attempting to dress me. Unfortunately, this is largely where my knowledge of my own backstory becomes hazy. Sure, I know some details surrounding my birth and the cause of my condition, but even those details are foggy at best.

    Based on what I can remember, from what I have been told, my mother went into labor with me three months early. I am unsure of at what point between the realization she was in labor, and my arrival, they realized that there were dire circumstances beyond the pre-mature birth. All that I can honestly tell you now is that her regular doctor had apparently been attending a party, and he did not respond to his pages for help. As the story has been told, even if he had, he was in no condition to perform the delivery, as he was inebriated at the time.

    Again, details are hazy here, but I do know that there were complications during my birth that caused my oxygen to be cut off. At some point during the fiasco, my left lung collapsed. I was born in a small town in Arkansas, and they were not equipped to address such a serious issue, as a result, I was taken to The Med in Memphis Tennessee, by ambulance, where I would stay for the next three months (or was it two?) The doctors informed my parents that my chances of surviving even the seventy miles to Memphis weren’t great. Thankfully, I proved the doctors wrong, and I am here today to share my story.

    In the 37 years that have followed since my birth, I’ve had my share of struggles, and experiences within the Cerebral Palsy community. Up until I was inspired to write these very thoughts down, I mistakenly assumed I was pretty well versed in that community, after all, as someone who took part in physical and occupational therapy for the majority of his first eighteen years of life, experienced more doctors’ visits and surgeries as a result of his condition than he can even recall, and faced many of the various challenges a person with CP faces on a daily basis, surely I know all there is to know about Cerebral Palsy, right? If you answered, ‘well sure’, oh how wrong you would be, but don’t worry, sadly, we would be in the same boat, because up until tonight, I would have answered the same.

    It’s sobering to realize that even someone living with a condition can be absolutely in the dark when it comes to so many aspects of the topic. How did I not realize that October 6th was World Cerebral Palsy Day? How can I not have known the various forms of the disability, and how they impact so many people around the world? I wish that I had a good answer for that, but sadly, I do not. I realize now that I have been arrogant. (I’ll get into that some other time.) What is possibly even worse than my arrogance is my lack of knowledge where it concerns a disability I have lived with my entire life.

    I came to the realization of my ignorance while doing some basic research for a blog/podcast that I recently discovered the germ of an idea for. The research took me to Twitter as I began seeking out people like me, who have lived with this condition. In the process, I discovered, that I am an outsider in my own community, by no one’s fault but my own. I have dropped the ball in championing for my own people, but by the grace of God, I intend for that to stop today. I have a long road ahead of me as I educate myself on Cerebral Palsy, it’s various forms, and how it has played a part in our society at large, through courageous individuals who took the ball I dropped, and are running with it like true heroes. It is my hope that you will walk with me down this road of self-discovery.

Location: Booneville, MS 38829, USA

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