My American Dream - October 19, 2004

My American Dream

My future is full of possibilities. My future would not be full of possibilities if I had been born fifty years ago. I would not be planning to go to college and make a life for myself. If I were born fifty years ago I would probably not be alive. The dreams I have now would not have been achievable for a person like me fifty years ago.

In 1971, my dad was a sixteen-year-old, the same age as I am now. My father was living in a small town in Ohio with his six brothers and sisters. He dreamed of moving to New York and becoming a fashion designer. At that same time my mother was living in New Jersey dreaming of being an actress. According to my father, neither one wanted to “settle down” and raise a family. Neither one would have guessed that they would meet, fall in love, and have two disabled daughters.

I was born in January of 1988. By June of that year my parents would be dealing with the most difficult news a parent can hear. I was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy type I. The doctors told my parents I would not live to be three years old. I have proved them wrong and am now sixteen years old.

My father never would have guessed at age sixteen that he would be raising his disabled daughter alone. His dream of being a fashion designer didn’t come true. Instead, he works at Toys R Us as the Visual Display Manager. He designs all the shops that are in that Toys R Us. My mother never did become an actress, her life was cut short by a fatal car accident in June of 1991. My little sister, Emma, never got to live out her dreams of walking, either. Her life was also cut much too short, by Spinal Muscular Atrophy, in March 1992.

My dream at sixteen is to go to college: I want to go to college to continue my education. College, to me, is going to be the place where I get to perfect my talents and actually do something productive with them. I also want to go to college to prove to everyone that it can be done. There have been many people over the years who have told me that I would not be able to do something, so going to college will be my ultimate goal to prove the naysayers wrong. After college, I want to get a job somewhere working with computers.

I know that like my parents, my dreams for the future may need to change with the people that come into my life. I also know that my dreams, even if they change, will come true despite me being disabled. I will strive to reach my dreams and I will do it!