Hey, how’s it going, guys?
Before we get going, let me introduce myself.
My name is Ryan, and I’m 18 years old.
Mostly, I’m just a normal teenage guy.
I like playing sports, love eating huge amounts of food, sleeping, playing video games…
You know the drill.
BUT, there is one thing that definitely makes me stand out in a crowd.
Maybe “stand out” isn’t the best way to put it, because, well, I don’t have any
arms or legs.
You might be wondering how I’m even typing this story out, but we’ll get to that later.
You also probably want to know how I lost my arms and legs.
I promise I’ll answer all your questions.
But for now, let’s get the story started.
When I was born, I was a normal, healthy baby.
That’s not always the case: I’ve met a couple friends over the years that were born
with no limbs because of genetic conditions.
There was even a horrible case a while ago where there was an anti-nausea drug taken
by pregnant women that ended up causing limb deformities in hundreds of babies.
Whatever the reason someone is missing a limb or limbs, it’s not as uncommon as you might
think.
But it’s still pretty unusual, especially people like me who don’t have a single normal
limb!
You don’t see people like me just every day.
But like I said.
I was born normal.
Just your average, everyday baby.
Things changed when I was 18 months old.
I had a fever and I kept crying a lot, so Mom and Dad just gave me some medicine and
kept an eye on me.
They did everything you’re supposed to do.
I wasn’t throwing up or anything!
They put me to bed, figuring some extra rest would get me babying around again like normal.
I don’t remember any of this, obviously, I just know what my parents have told me when
I asked about it.
I woke them up in the middle of the night screaming in pain, and when they ran into
my room, I had a HUGE fever and a weird rash all over my body.
Both of them knew what that could mean: meningitis.
They hoped for the best and rushed me to the hospital.
Things went from bad to worse once we got there.
They put me into an induced coma to try and save me from brain damage.
The infection was in my blood and I wasn’t able to stay conscious for very long.
I even had a heart attack – before I was even two years old – because of the stress
my little body was under.
It was a really scary night for everyone there!
They managed to get the infection under control while I was in the coma, but it was too late
to stop it from causing permanent damage.
Both of my hands and both of my feet had turned black from the infection.
The doctors told my parents that they would have to amputate my hands and feet, and probably
some of my arms and legs, too.
It was probably for the best that I wasn’t awake to hear that.
My parents were devastated, but they knew that the alternative was losing their only
child, so they agreed to go ahead with the amputation.
I ended up losing both of my arms at the elbows, and both of my legs above the knee.
Apparently, the surgeons like to cut off a little bit more than they need to, just to
make totally sure the infected parts are all gone.
I don’t blame them.
I was too young to remember the recovery, but Mom and Dad say it wasn’t as bad as
they expected, probably because I was a fighter, even back then.
Sure, I was super woozy and frustrated to not be able to pick things up anymore, but
because I was such a young kid, I got used to it way quicker than they’d thought.
The frustration was the main thing: I would cry at not being able to do the things I used
to.
They still had to wait for my stumps to heal – and yes, I still call them my stumps,
or my stubs.
And for a long time, I couldn’t shower or bathe because I couldn’t get the wounds
wet.
As a kid, I didn’t hate the “no baths” part.
It was a long journey from there.
I started seeing a physical therapist named Lorna.
She’s actually still a huge part of my life still.
She started teaching me how to do basic things without my limbs, like rolling over or repositioning
my body.
That was our starting point.
I loved Lorna; she’s one of my very first memories.
She’s always been really bright, fun and enthusiastic, and for a toddler going through
a tough time, that was the best thing ever.
I quickly learned how to move myself in basic ways without my arms and legs.
Then, we moved onto more complicated things, like picking things up with my stubs, and
“toddling” around the room with just the stumps of my legs.
Lorna says that if I’d been a few years older, and more used to doing things the “normal”
way, the recovery would have been a lot harder.
Outside of the whole meningitis and no limbs thing, I developed pretty normally.
By the time I could talk, I was pretty aware of the fact that I wasn’t like other people.
I didn’t remember having arms and legs, but I could definitely tell that other people
had something I didn’t.
And I could tell that some things were easier for them than for me.
Everyone could walk so fast without any effort, but any movement at all for me was really
hard.
Getting prosthetics made helped a ton.
They were expensive, but so worth it.
I got those bendy, flipper-looking ones for my legs.
You’ve probably seen similar ones on Paralympic athletes.
Basically, as soon as I got the prosthetics fitted to my legs, I was zooming around on
them like I’d had them my whole life.
They were a part of me.
Oh, I said I’d explain how I type, didn’t I?
Well, I use my mouth to type, or sometimes a rubber prosthesis attached to one of my
arms.
Or, sometimes I just set a laptop to voice recognition mode and talk it all out.
Mostly, I hold a pointer in my mouth and use it to tap the keys.
Mystery solved!
All right, moving on.
Mom and Dad were really worried about me getting bullied at school, but that was never a problem.
That is, it wasn’t until I hit middle school.
That was a rough time, not because the bullying affected me, but because it was annoying that
their approach to bullying was just pointing out that I didn’t have any arms or legs.
Like, do you think I didn’t NOTICE?
Was I supposed to say “Oh my God, you’re right!
Where’d they go?!”?
Give me a break.
I ended up going to a pretty “alternative” high school, which made all the difference
after my middle school woes.
Everyone there was so much more accepting, because they were already so used to people
with different races, genders, and abilities.
I was way more comfortable using my prosthetics to get around there instead of just relying
on a wheelchair.
I preferred to move my own body.
I liked being in charge.
It was at this school that I made a really awesome group of friends.
One of them, Calvin, was on the school swim team.
Out of nowhere one day, he suggested that I come and swim with him.
Calvin was a happy-go-lucky guy, and he said he really admired the way I was willing to
try anything.
Swimming, however, was something I had never done.
How do you even swim with no limbs!?
Would I just sink to the bottom?
Calvin just said, “Well, you can walk with no limbs, why can’t you swim with no limbs?”
And I couldn’t argue with that.
I ended up bringing up the swimming thing in one of my appointments with Lorna.
Her eyes lit up and she said there was no reason why I couldn’t swim.
She even volunteered to come along to help me with my technique and make sure that everything
ran smoothly.
I was super excited to push myself in this new way and get to enjoy something that I
thought was impossible for me.
I texted Calvin to let him know I was in and he was over the moon.
The big day came.
We made sure not many people were at the pool and I got in.
I’d been in a pool before – just never actually swimming.
It took a few minutes of bobbing up and down to get used to the buoyancy and how to move
in the water, but I got really good at rolling over to breathe and using my ab muscles to
move myself.
If any of you are swimmers and do the butterfly stroke – that’s the way I kick.
With my arm stumps, I just do whatever works, basically.
Most of my swimming ability comes from my hips and abs.
It might sound like I’m exaggerating but that first day swimming was the best day of
my life so far.
Yeah, I always knew I could do more than people thought I could do – but this time, I was
doing more than even I thought I could do.
I sure showed me!
So, that’s how I joined the swim team!
Sure, I always had my own lane because I couldn’t move as fast as people who actually, you know,
had legs and arms.
But I wasn’t that slow, either.
Mom and Dad were so excited to come and watch.
Both of them cried, although Dad denies it to this day.
I think a lot people with a disability like mine would train with a special swim team
for the disabled.
And there’s nothing wrong with that, of course.
I just think it’s incredibly cool that the coaches for my school’s team were accepting
enough to include me despite my different needs.
It made me feel “normal.”
Plus, swimming helped in a lot of other ways that I didn’t expect, like with my muscle
strength and balance.
It also helped with another of my issues, phantom pain.
If you don’t know what that is, it’s when your brain is still getting electrical signals
of pain from your hands and feet, even if they aren’t there anymore.
Yes, my foot can hurt even though I haven’t had feet in almost 20 years.
I don’t know why swimming helped so much with that, but it did.
Maybe because my body was finally coming to terms with the fact that I didn’t have those
limbs anymore.
As I got more and more into swimming, Lorna helped me get some special prosthetics for
swimming.
You can Google them if you want, they look kinda like flippers.
They made everything AMAZING – I could soar through the water like I was a bird flying
through the air.
My time at high school is almost over, but I have a pretty solid plan for the future!
After dealing with bullying in middle school, on top of the difficulties that come with
my condition, I want to study to become a counsellor or social worker so that I can
help kids going through the same stuff.
After all, if a guy with no arms or legs was able to overcome hardships, anyone can, right!?
I’m looking into joining a proper swimming team for people with physical disabilities
so that I can get a partial or full scholarship to help me with college – fingers crossed!
I’ve always thought it’s funny how I still use that expression even though I’ve never
even remembered having fingers to cross.
The message I want you guys to take away from this story is that, no matter what you’re
going through, whether it is mental or physical, you are still capable of achieving the things
you want to achieve.
Sometimes you might have to find a way to make it work for you and your needs, and sometimes
the result might not be perfect, but it’s about the journey, not the destination.
It’s about how you overcome the obstacles in front of you.
Sometimes I think about who I would have been if I’d never gotten meningitis, but then
I realise – who cares?
This is who I am and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
That kind of self-acceptance is the key to being happy.
Thank you guys so much for listening.
It brings me a lot of joy to be able to share my story with others and, hey, maybe I inspired
a few of you to try something you thought you’d never do.
If you liked my story and my message, don’t forget to like and subscribe for more true
stories!
Peace out.