www.terryboydwcsports.com

Hello all.

 I just wanted to say that this is a very cool site.  Where else can you interact with people who share the same physical challenges that WE ALL go through on a daily basis.  This was a wonderful idea.  I was watching CNN and ran across this story about a new website for amputees.  I immediately got on the computer and signed up.  This is my first blog, so enjoy my story.

  I was shooting basketball about 5 years ago at a local YMCA when I suddenly twisted my right knee.  It was very painful.  I managed to get home and to work that day, but I knew something was not right.  I visited with my doctor and they suggested I may have a small cartilage tear.  Their recommendation was rest and time off from work.  After nearly two weeks off from work, I went back for a follow-up.  This time I was given a cortisone shot and sent back to work.  Great.  All was good until the shot wore off.

  I then was placed into a physical therapy program to strengthen my knee.  After just my 2nd appointent the therapist, not a doctor (lol), suggested that maybe I had a pinched nerve in my back causing false pains in my knee.  My doctor ordered a back x-ray, and it showed a large grapefruit sized tumor in my right hip/pelvis area.  I was floored.  I later found out that it was indeed maligment or cancerous.  In January 2003, I was diagnosed with chondrosarcoma, a rare, soft cartilage or tissue cancer.  My world changed that day.

  I begin radiation treatment shortly after to attempt to shrink the tumor.  30 treatments over 6 weeks.  It sucked!  I was tired and sick all the time.  I had no appetite or sex drive, to name a few symptoms.  I completed treatments and prepared for surgery.  I had surgery August 13, 2003, a date I will never forget.  My radical, life-saving, and life altering surgery lasted 22 hours!  When they were done, they resected a tumor the size of a basketball!  WOW!  Amazing, huh! 

  I had several complications from my surgery (blood clots, L4 and L5 vertabrae damage to my back, pnuemonia, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, siezures, slow wound healing, addiction to morphine, cold sweats, grief, and severe pain to be brief).  I eventually stayed over 100 days in the hospital, with the first 22 being in a medical induced coma. 

  After post-surgery test were ran, I was CANCER-FREE!  Thank GOD for that.  I then spent three weeks in a rehabilitation center, learning to adjust and function with one leg.  Believe it or not, I felt at home working out and doing the grunt work to maintain self-sufficency.  I am a former high-school and college athelete, so I relied on what I had learned in the past.  HARD WORK!

  After just a few weeks, I was able to walk for a few thousand feet in one attempt.  I was so amazed and proud of myself that I was able to far exceed my expectations.  I went home to adjust to this able-body world and nearly four years later, here I am.

  My life has not been easy.  It has been a challenge.  I promise you this, I wouldn't change a thing.  I appreciate my struggle and the journey that I have endured.  I challenge each of you to champion your disability and not allow it to hamper your future goals and progression in life.  Allow your disability to push you harder to get where you need to be.  I've since went back to college and this past summer, I graduated with two degrees.  I also just returned from St. PauL, Minnesota about a month ago competing in my 3rd National Wheelchair Softball Tournament.  I play for a team in Columbus, Ohio called the Columbus Pioneers.  We placed 5th in the Nation for the 2nd year in a row.

  Challenge yourself to find a support group or a sporting event to get you around similar PEOPLE.  I guarantee you will learn and grow from the experience.  Until next time....

Your friend till the end,

Terry Boyd