Finding Community and Strength: Sean's Achondroplasia Journey — Transcript

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1. 0:08my name is Sean I'm 23 years old and I
2. 0:11have
3. 0:11acondroplasia my parents knew before I
4. 0:14was born that I had acondroplasia it was
5. 0:16definitely something that was kind of
6. 0:18thrown at them I'm the oldest I have
7. 0:20triplet younger siblings two boys and a
8. 0:22girl my house is very hectic I was three
9. 0:25and a half when they were born so a
10. 0:27toddler and three little ones running
11. 0:29around I'm sure my mom had her hands
12. 0:31full we were always outside we were
13. 0:33always doing something we always were
14. 0:35being competitive playing sports just
15. 0:38being kids and we're all treated as one
16. 0:40it wasn't Shan this Shan that it was all
17. 0:42four of us as one which I think really
18. 0:45as parents was something big and
19. 0:46definitely contribut to the way I am
20. 0:50now when I was little a play I
21. 0:53definitely played a big part in my
22. 0:54everyday today life going to the
23. 0:56bathroom by myself was hard opening
24. 0:58doors was hard getting into of cars was
25. 1:00hard the bus carrying my backpack
26. 1:02putting stuff on shelves everything
27. 1:04wasn't that easy uh but it was a way of
28. 1:06adapting that I had to do and I had to
29. 1:08live with for the age of one I had my
30. 1:11first major significant surgery it was a
31. 1:13decompression of my frame in Magnum and
32. 1:16it basically saved my life and started
33. 1:18my process of all my procedures and
34. 1:21throughout my life from a newborn to Now
35. 1:2323 years old I've had over 22 surgeries
36. 1:31I hate to use the word PTSD but PTSD is
37. 1:34something that really comes into effect
38. 1:36and my last one when I was 18 years old
39. 1:38mature I'm an adult the PTSD level just
40. 1:42kicked in to an extreme after that
41. 1:44surgery is probably one of the most like
42. 1:47the hardest thing I struggle with um
43. 1:50going into certain places if something
44. 1:51smells like anesthesia I get the chills
45. 1:53stuff smells like iodine um certain
46. 1:56musics there's small little things that
47. 1:59trigger stuff and it just brings back
48. 2:02flashbacks um obviously all good all bad
49. 2:06whatever it's life you got to deal with
50. 2:08it it's the process but that last
51. 2:09surgery it was it it was hard but I'm
52. 2:13grateful for having the opportunity to
53. 2:15be able to do all of those and be the
54. 2:18individual that I'm at now cuz without
55. 2:20them who knows where I'd be right so
56. 2:22it's all about the
57. 2:25process I can't thank the people in my
58. 2:28corner enough and the biggest people in
59. 2:30my corner are my friends I have by far
60. 2:33the best friends anyone can ask for they
61. 2:35don't allow me to take anything for
62. 2:38granted I think growing up that was the
63. 2:40biggest thing I never used a conia as an
64. 2:44excuse I forgot I had a contemplation
65. 2:46when I'm with them my friends would
66. 2:48describe me as someone with a big
67. 2:50personality very outgoing just someone
68. 2:52that always is smiling always wants to
69. 2:54make everyone's day I'm a people's
70. 2:56person I love making people happy if
71. 2:58someone else is happy I'm going to be
72. 2:59happy so someone else is smiling I'll
73. 3:00would be
74. 3:02happy about 4 years ago my physical
75. 3:05therapist introduced me to CrossFit and
76. 3:07it's changed my life I stepped inside a
77. 3:09gym and was able to forget about
78. 3:11everything I had that sense of community
79. 3:13I didn't have to think about what I just
80. 3:15went through I was able to feel like my
81. 3:17Z I was able to feel like everyone else
82. 3:19in the gym and everyone else that goes
83. 3:20and plays Sports at a competitive level
84. 3:22day in and day out I felt like everyone
85. 3:24else I was everyone else and I was just
86. 3:27being myself having fun and being the
87. 3:29competitive individual that I
88. 3:32was sharing my story is important to me
89. 3:35because it lets other people see what we
90. 3:38go through people are scared of
91. 3:40adversity they're scared of challenges
92. 3:43and having a condu pleasure or skeletal
93. 3:46dysplasia of any sort you're going to
94. 3:48come across those consistently and it's
95. 3:50just the way of how you're going to deal
96. 3:51with them it's just it's really going to
97. 3:53impact your life yeah I have challenges
98. 3:56obstacles get thrown at me all the time
99. 3:58but it's the way of of going about it
100. 4:01and realizing there's so much more to
101. 4:02life than just having a conjure plagia
102. 4:06[Music]