Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • What was different about your body when you were born?

  • I was actually born with one finger on my left hand and a full left leg, but it was curved.

  • I had surgery when I was 2 and a half years old to remove the part that was curved, so I had a stump that they could put a prosthetic leg on.

  • And then they took the big toe from that. And they put it on my left hand. So I have two fingers.

  • I did tons of physical therapy to try to get my new finger to work like a real finger, and not like a toe.

  • I was always trying to figure out how to bring them together and how to get them to come together and touch.

  • And I was sitting in the shower, and they touched, and it was amazing!

  • I was running around the house screaming, yay, I did it! Because that was like the first milestone.

  • Do you feel different than other kids?

  • Sometimes I do. People do stare and whisper.

  • I'll be thinking, like, there's tons of kids in this world, how did He happen to choose me to be one of the kids that had to get their leg taken away.

  • And I asked God, like, can you please give me a leg, somehow, some way.

  • But then I have to think, I was born like this. I can't change it.

  • And when I play sports, I don't feel different. I don't think about anything else. I just think about what's happening in the game.

  • Would you say sports have become a ritual for you?

  • Yes. Because I feel like if I don't play sports every day, I feel weird.

  • I've always felt like sports is where I can go, when I'm sad or lonely or anything.

  • I love competition. I love the feeling. I love being under pressure and everything.

  • When I'm playing sports, I go from thinking about all the other things to game mode.

  • When I'm in the zone, I feel like I have this like fire around me, and then the flames pop up and have this circle around it.

  • So any thoughts that try to come in, and they get burned by the fire, and they don't let in.

  • Do you feel you have to work harder than other kids?

  • Oh, yes. I bet kids, when they take a step, "Oh, I took a step, big deal."

  • For me, when I take a step, I say, "Oh, no big deal," but I thought about every little bit.

  • I put so much pressure on my body from being in a prosthetic all day.

  • I come home. I'm like dying from back pain, and I have to stretch before I go to bed every night.

  • So how do you stay positive?

  • I have to think about what I have instead of what I don't have.

  • I have a great life. I have a great family. I have great legs. I have great friends. I have a great school.

  • I could go on for years. I'm just grateful that I have so many things that are great in my life.

  • There's lots of challenges in people's life, and that's a little wall right there.

  • So I try to break down that wall. If I'm just running around like playing soccer or shooting a lay-up, I don't think about it.

  • I don't feel different when I'm playing sports because that takes me away from my disability.

  • But it's a good thing that I'm born like this.

  • I've learned to be confident in myself. I've learned how to be strong.

  • Firefighters see difficult things every day.

  • Click to watch as one shares his inspiring ritual in this episode.

  • All that excitement, energy, sweat, tears.

  • It's contained until you get all the way up to the top, where you just like explode and just feel like the sky open up.

  • "Rituals" is a part of "Seeker Stories."

  • If you'd like to continue to see more stories from around the world, we need you to subscribe.

  • Thanks for watching.

What was different about your body when you were born?

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it