One of the best things that happened to me as an indirect result of having Pompe’s disease was the chance to draw upon my experience and put it into writing. What makes it even better is that I got to write for a book.
On March 2004, “Reflections From A Different Journey: What Adults With Disabilities Wish All Parents Knew” was released in the market. A book spearheaded by Stan Klein and John Kemp and published by McGraw-Hill. The book is a collection of 40 essays written by adults who grew up with disability. With topics ranging from love and acceptance all the way to sexuality, the book is a good resource for parents who are raising children with disability. The aim of this book is to share lessons and life experiences of adults who already went through growing up with disability, in hopes that the parents can learn something and apply it to their own experience.
I’m really fortunate to have been a part of the book. It can about unexpectedly. I was one day going over an email from a mailing list I subscribed to. In that email was a call for submission of articles for the book. I decided to give it a go and that same day I sat for 30 mins and composed the article. It may seem like a short time to write an article but it’s a subject I know by heart. So putting down my thoughts into writting did not take much time. I submitted the article the same day.
I got a reply from Stan Klein a few days later saying that he received the article and was going to review it. The deadline for submissions was still months ahead so he said that it will take some time before they can decide if the article will be included.
I forgot all about the article till months after when I received an email again from Stan. I almost deleted his email because I didn’t recognize his name. Something inside myself prodded me to read the email. It was a good thing I did. Stan wrote a message of congratulations for having been chosen as one of the 40 essays included in the book. I was floored. Not only was it a great honor to be included in the book but it was also one of my dreams to have an essay published in a book.
I’ve always believed that we are put in this world to make a difference. No matter who we are and what we do, we can make a difference. Maybe not a big one but a difference nonetheless. One way I thought I could make a difference is by sharing my experiences with others in hopes that they may learn from it. Writing is a good way of doing so.
With this essay in the book, I’ve started to share my experiences with others as I’m doing with this blog. If it helps one person and improves his outlook about life, then I’d have done my job.
There’s a link on the sidebar of this blog that will direct you to amazon, if you can please do get a copy of the book. It’s a great read with lots of lessons not only for people with disability and their parents but for all. Most of the stories convery lessons that can be applied to everyone’s lives. It will also help support people such as Stan Klein and John Kemp produce more books for people with disabilies. You can also visit Stan’s site http://www.disabilitiesbooks.com and get the book there. Either way you’re helping support a good cause.
Till next time… Fight Pompe!