celebrating Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is
one of my favorite holidays because of
the way that we spend time with our
families eat delicious food and enjoy
classic football games I just want to
tell you guys about my things giving
2012 I was coming home from my aunts
house from dinner we have just finished
watching football and I was telling them
how much I was so pumped up for my break
because it was the first time I got a
break from school from and from football
practice I played football my sophomore
year and I was the captain of my
football team I worked really hard that
season to be on varsity the next year
when we got to my house it was my mom my
brother and my mom’s ex-boyfriend and I
in the car my mom’s ex-boyfriend got
upset because of a cancel Black Friday
trip and we only got off the car he was
acting to come in the house my mother
told him not tonight and that made him
very angry and he became abusive he
started to hit my mom and I was shocked
that he was acting the way he did I came
outside and I tried to control him who
put him under control but he started
getting more fired up and was saying a
lot of things like imma kill y’all and
you know he didn’t want us to be here
anymore so my mom my brother called the
police while I was outside trying to
him down but he continued to get more
worked up every minute I said to my mom
that we would have to do something and
do something fast before this thing gets
out of hand when I was with when I was
outside with him he was chasing me
around his car and I was trying to avoid
him just to kill time until the cops
arrived but finally my mom called me in
the house after she got off the phone
with the police and I ran in as fast as
I could
not knowing what to expect after that I
locked the door and I looked back in the
living room to see if my mom my brother
were ok they were sound in the living
room and it seemed like everything was
ok it was within a split second I heard
loud noises outside of my door these
noises were gunshots and I didn’t know
that they were gunshots until I was shot
in the stomach through the door I didn’t
know what to what to do or what to say
but the only thing I took I said was I
told my mom and my brother to get down
because he was shooting through the door
I moved to the side and he came inside
of the house he stormed inside of the
house and went up to my mom and my
brother and shot down I was still
conscious and I saw this all I saw him
shoot my my brother who was 10 at the
time he came in and he shot me again as
well I was there and I was begging him
to stop but he continued to hit us with
his firearm and stomp us while we were
already down he fired more shots in the
house and soon the police came this all
lasted for maybe less than 10 minutes
but this felt like forever I didn’t know
what to thank us I was slowly becoming
unconscious when he stopped me and my
brother on the ground
while we were down I woke up in the
hospital the next day and I had no idea
where my mom was when my brother was and
I had no idea what to think about what
he did this was a really crazy
experience because when I finally the
only thing I could ask was it’s my mom
alive is my brother alive I didn’t see
them for a couple days and that ran me
more crazy than the actual gunshots I
had sustained from that night just not
knowing what my family were and were
they gonna be okay because I thought in
my head that I was gonna be okay because
I never try to think negatively about
anything but I didn’t I didn’t know
because especially my brother he was so
young at the time I didn’t know what to
think about that this was a very dark
time for me but since then I’ve turned
it around and I’ve tried to do my best
to make everything the best I can and
deal with it and make the best of what I
have I was in the hospital for three
months and had ten surgeries and with
that I had my leg amputated above the
knee once I had my leg amputated I had
to relearn how to walk how to keep my
balance and I had to train my muscles
all over again and just just to even get
back to school and do my schoolwork in
school I was on homebound for about six
months but I came back to school and I
passed my sophomore year and I was
trying to come back to play football
that same year I was training with
physical therapy
getting my gate back to the way I wanted
it to be in that soon Bennet learned how
to run I appreciated the fact that I
could get up and walk again after I got
my prosthetic leg because I know how it
felt to not be able to walk for so long
to be on crutches and have to hop
instead of actually using two feet to
walk when my mom and when we were in the
hospital this my mom would come to each
room and go back and forth to see my
brother and I and my family had to stay
super strong just to keep my my spirits
up through this time the only time that
I knew everything was going to be okay
it’s on on this picture when my brother
and I got the first time we saw each
other after the incident and I looked at
him and I told him it was gonna be okay
and he said it was gonna be okay and
after that I had no doubt in my mind
that we would make a miraculous comeback
graduated on time from Thomas Dale High
School and I’m now really blessed to say
that I’m a sophomore in college and I’m
on this stage and it’s just a blessing
to be here today talking to York talking
to you about what’s happened because I
know I could have been not here to tell
this story and there was a slim chance
of survival for us but we made it
through I went to Connecticut over the
summer and I didn’t know what to expect
my first time getting on a plane over my
first time going to camp No Limits which
is a camp for amputees at camp No Limits
amputees team up with physical therapy
students
to learn new ways of doing daily life
activities such as walking running doing
certain stuff that amputees never
imagined that they would have the power
to do this was a great experience for me
because I learned that being at camp no
limits there there is no limits you have
the power to do anything you put your
mind to and nobody can stop you no
matter what you have or what you go
through it’s just you have to have that
self the self motivation to step over
any hurdle that comes in your path
I believe I found out that I wanted to
pursue my career in physical therapy
after coming from camp No Limits I had a
partner that I was working with he was
younger than me about my little
brother’s age and I was teaching him
some things that I had learned from
physical therapy and we were playing
basketball he told me he loved
basketball and I taught him how to shoot
and dribble between his legs and he was
really proud to say that he learned that
so at the end of camp we had a session
saying what was your favorite part of
camp
and when it was his time he told camp
that his favorite part of camp was
meeting Corrales that was awesome for me
and I would love to impact people’s
lives in that same way and that’s why I
am studying to be a physical therapist
now in college when I went to
Connecticut we play sled hockey and it
was my first time playing adaptive
sports I didn’t give up on playing
sports after I didn’t play football
anymore
because I know that I was given
talents for a reason but it did what it
just wasn’t to be in the National
Football League now I play adaptive
sports and when I learned how to play
sled hockey it was my first time ever
playing adaptive sports we had we had an
arena with ice and we get on we get on
the sled and use two sticks one you
would be able to maneuver around the ice
with it’s at the it’s ice picks at the
end of that your sticks so you stick
those in the ice and you push it as hard
as you can to let the sled slide on the
ice and on the other side you have your
pup your stick when you hit the pup when
I learned how to play sled hockey they
told me that I wasn’t natural and that I
should pursue playing sled hockey when I
went back home I tried that but that
didn’t work out either because in
Richmond we don’t have a sled hockey
team that was home something I could
only experience in New England so I’ll
be going back for that but now I’ve
started to play wheelchair basketball
just a month ago I started my career
playing wheelchair basketball and I’ve
already been promoted to play for the
national wheelchair basketball
association to pay for the ritual
I play on the Richmond rim riders and
after my first tournament today I scored
my first bucket so who everyone so that
was a big win for me and to be here it’s
just an extreme blessing for me so I
just want to say that sometimes in life
we face obstacles but you never know
where we’ll have the opportunity to turn
once we get over that obstacle and go to
something else and if another obstacle
comes your way you just have to knock it
[Applause]
I think we just need to take a moment to
commend you on your bravery can we get
one more hand farmer [Applause]