Glass Half Full
Glass Half Full
Win Kelly-Charles' Inspiring Journey: Overcoming Cerebral Palsy, Advocacy, and Resilience Through Life's Challenges
How do you navigate life when it feels like every challenge is stacked against you? Join us on this eye-opening episode of "Glass Half Full" as we sit down with Win Kelly-Charles, a podcast host living with Cerebral Palsy. Win opens up about her journey from her idyllic upbringing in Aspen, Colorado, to facing significant hurdles, including the heart-wrenching experience of emotional and physical abuse by her aunt in 2019. As a mandatory reporter, Win passionately discusses the urgency of recognizing and reporting abuse, especially for individuals with disabilities.
Win's story takes us through the physically and emotionally grueling aftermath of a five-hour spinal surgery. Imagine the disorientation of waking up with a full oxygen mask on your face when you already have a condition like Cerebral Palsy, which is caused by lack of oxygen at birth. From this initial distress to battling pneumonia and a twisted bowel, Win's resilience is nothing short of extraordinary. Listen as she recounts the emotional toll of these experiences, compounded by the absence of her usual pastoral care, and how a brief visit from a determined clergy member provided a glimmer of hope.
Finally, we delve into Win's advocacy journey, from discovering her condition at a young age to fighting for necessary medical interventions like spinal fusion revisions. Her story underscores the critical importance of self-advocacy and community engagement for people with disabilities. Whether it's demanding respect in social settings or ensuring fair treatment in medical care, Win's experiences serve as a powerful call to action. This episode is an inspiring reminder of the need to challenge institutions to accommodate and recognize individuals with disabilities, fostering a more inclusive and respectful society.
https://winatlifepodcast.weebly.com/
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, and welcome to another episode of Glass Half Full, a podcast and a safe platform where we talk with a variety of teachers, entrepreneurs, spiritualists, uplifters, givers, shakers and serenaders. Everyone has a lesson to learn and a lesson to share. Let's use our life experiences to enrich someone's heart, mind, spirit and soul. Through sharing our experiences, we can be a learning inspiration for one another. I'm your host, chris Levins. Let's welcome today's guest. Today's guest is Wynne Kelly-Charles. Wynne Kelly-Charles is a podcast host with Cerebral Palsy and her mission is to help others with physical and mental disabilities to find their voice through written or spoken word, using today's assistive technologies as needed. Let's welcome Wynne Kelly-Charles.
Win:Chris, thank you for having me and you guys. I'll just a spinal fusion revision to my spinal fusion April 23rd me now. But if you hear me say ouch, that's because I have spools in my back and I don't like the feeling of spools in my back, and we'll explain why. I had a spinal fusion in the first place and then a second one.
Chris:Yeah, yes, we're going to get into it. Don't give them too much too early. But first I want to thank you for being a guest here on Glass Half Full. We are so happy to have you today.
Win:Well, thank you for having me.
Chris:Yes, you're very welcome. Can you tell everyone where you are in the world and what time it is, please?
Win:I am in Phoenix, arizona, and it's 8 pm. Yes, yes, how's 8 pm.
Chris:Yes, yes, how's the weather.
Win:Hot.
Chris:Hot.
Win:I mean, it's summer here in Phoenix, Arizona, and for those of you who have been out to Phoenix, for those of your listeners who have been out to Phoenix in the summer, they know 108, 104, 105, 120 is our summer temperature.
Chris:Oh, my gosh Dry heat. Don't know about it, but I've heard about it for sure. Wow. Yeah. Well, we're going to jump right on in. I like to ask all my guests this first question. I believe that our lives are in spiritual design. Can you share your life layout with everyone, your blueprint, how you grew up, where your family lifestyle up to today's time?
Win:Well, I grew up in Aspen, colorado. I grew up with a mother and a dad. I happened to be the only child and then, at age 23, my life got very, very complicated because I lost my mom and I was only 23 in 2010, so it would have been 14 years ago and so I lost my mom. And then, kicker was, I lost my dad in 2019. And then the kicker was that I got emotionally and physically abused by my aunt, who happened to be my godmother on my mom's side of the family. What, oh my gosh?
Win:Disabled in general happen to be emotionally and happen to be abused in some sort Because we are victims and we can't run and we can't do anything. Some of us have physical disabilities, some of us have mental disabilities and don't understand what's going on. And I, because I'm on 24-hour care now, as we would call it this, I have an aide who's living at my house in Phoenix helping me because of my spinal fusion, and these aids are trained not to touch people, not to um ever do anything of that sort. So a lot of people think it's the AIDS that emotionally and physically abuse the disabled. And no, it could be anyone. It could be police, it could be social workers, it could be physical therapists, occupational therapists, aids anyone. And nine times out of ten it is the family members that emotionally, physically abuse. It's not the AIDS. Wow.
Chris:And so this abuse happened when you were a child.
Win:This abuse happened in 2019.
Chris:Oh, wow, okay, You're grown, okay, wow.
Win:Oh yeah, I was grown, I knew what was going on. I happen to be what they call a mandatory reporter and, again, if a police is smart, they'll report it, and if a social worker is smart, they report it Basically what a mandatory reporter does. I'll use myself as an example. Okay.
Win:Because I was a mandatory reporter for the state of Colorado and I still am a mandatory reporter for Arizona, even though I don't have the mandatory reporting yet. But I'm getting close to it because I'm going to be working for, volunteering for my church, so I have to have that mandatory reporting aspect to work with kids, and which is fine. I know the drill by now. And basically what a mandatory reporter does is they call Child protective services if they see anything wonky. If they see, if they hear a child say, mommy, hit me. If they hear, if they look at the child and one day they didn't have bruises all over them and the next day they do, a mandatory reporter has to call Child Protective Services. And so in my case my aunt did not realize. Number one, she was abusing her niece. Number two, my aunt did not realize that I had three witnesses oh wow and and so three witnesses to my emotional and physical abuse.
Win:Actually five, five witnesses, but I had three witnesses standing by. And then, what the kicker was, she didn't realize that I am, and was, a mandatory reporter.
Chris:Oh wow, wow.
Win:Yeah, so that put me in a rock and a hard place because I'm like great, now what do I do?
Chris:do I call?
Win:yeah protective services myself or call uh, tell a counselor. I managed to tell a counselor at the time, a mental health counselor at the time, and the counselor got tipped off. Because the counselor asked do you feel safe at home? I said yes, this is what's going on and they will ask you in a rehab center physical rehab center is there emotional and is there abuse going on at home? They will also ask you that I got asked that at 6 am the morning of my surgery is there abuse going at home?
Chris:What did you say?
Win:I fully expected no, because I'm out of that situation now, and I fully expected a hospital to ask that, because they never know what they're walking into, and I had a witness standing beside me who would also vouch for me and say no, and so I. But in a physical rehab center, I guess I guess why they ask that is because they're dealing with the elderly ask that is because they're dealing with the elderly, so I found that curious, curious is a cute cat on that one.
Win:I am out of the abusive situation. I am living a better quality of life than I was living in Aspen, Colorado, and I put a record against my aunt but I didn't put a restraining order against her and so that helped a lot. And people ask me all the time did your aunt move out of the country because of your abuse? No, she lived out of the US.
Chris:Oh, she moved out of the country.
Win:Nope, she originally lived out of the US. Oh, okay, okay, okay got it so for me, for me to put a restraining order against the US to get the person back into the US yeah, yeah, at this point, wow.
Chris:Is this your mom's sister or your dad's sister?
Win:my mom's sister, oh, my gosh's sister, my mom's sister.
Chris:Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry to hear that Wow.
Win:And the only reason why she abused me is because she didn't like my care, but yet she didn't want to come out and help me figure out my care. What that's crazy. She didn't like how the aides were treating me.
Chris:That makes no sense.
Win:But yet I begged. I begged and begged my stepmom at the time to have my family come out and have my family help me come up with a plan, with me being in the center of it, because I'm my own guardian, I can make my own. Even though I have help with the financial, I can make my own decisions. I have a sound mind. And so they didn't come out. They, by the time they came out, they sent my cousin out first to observe the situation and then they came out. By the time they came out, it it basically was a very interesting show because they abused me. They didn't want to admit to the Colorado cops or adult protective services that they did anything wrong and linked by abuse, and my church knows this. This is public knowledge too, and so, yeah.
Chris:Wow, oh my gosh, that is some story. I'm sorry that you've had to go through that. Thank you for sharing as well, that's okay. Yes, I wanted to ask you how have you overcome physical challenges to get to where you want it to be today?
Win:My belief in God, my faith, has brought me well. My faith has brought me back from the brink of death. I mean, I just had a five and a half hour spinal fulgure on April 23rd. You would think I would be interesting, I would be paralyzed and then you would. Oh no, I'm still alive and kicking. But the interesting thing was and my church totally knew that I was having this back surgery they also know that I have no family out here. So they stepped up to the plate and took care of me spiritually, emotionally, and not necessarily financially, although they could have. But I'm saying that because they were so good to me that they could have taken care of me financially if I had asked or at least found me help. But I didn't need that. I needed more spiritual help and they got. And it was so funny because I wake up from. I wake up from a surgery and of course I have oxygen masks on my face. Not oxygen candle, oh no, the ones that go up your nose. Oh no.
Win:I have a full-fledged oxygen mask on my face and I wake up from surgery, I realized that I had oxygen mask on my face and also know me publicly and also know me privately, know that wind doesn't like oxygen bask on her. So I realized that. I also realized that my main condition being cerebral palsy oh, by the way, cerebral palsy is lack of oxygen in geriatric birth. I failed to mention that at the beginning.
Win:Oh, it's the lack of oxygen. Did you say it's lack of oxygen in geriatric birth? I failed to mention that at the beginning. Oh, it's the lack of oxygen. Did you say it's lack of oxygen injury at birth?
Win:For me, I have ataxic spastic cerebral palsy, which creates a lot of toes, meaning my legs get tight very, very easily. Well, when you put me in surgery for five hours and knock me out with the sed, you get an interesting mess in the recovery room. And so I look down, my leg is in full-on contraction and I'm thinking, oh, this is great. I'm thinking this is either nerve damage or cerebral palsy going into complete overdrive, and I'm like well, so I start wiggling my feet because I want to make sure that it's not nerve damage, just because they're working on my back for five and a half hours, my God. And so it's not nerve damage, it was cerebral palsy. It's not nerve damage, it was cerebral palsy. So my first reaction is how the heck am I gonna get my leg down? Well, that's another story in itself. So then, with the oxygen mask on, I began to cry and the head nurse looks at me and I will never forget it. She goes, stop crying and I'm like what she literally said stop crying. And I'm like what you don't understand. I have five hour back surgery, I have tubes coming out of me, oxygen mask on me, which I don't like, and then she goes you're not allowed to have visitors.
Win:Well, granted, my church knows they had planned all this for them to come up. And so the next thing, I know my One clergy member who's typically not on pastoral care duty, but she took me on because one of her colleagues was out of the country. And I'm thinking, oh great, the one who normally does pastoral care is out of the country. And so what are we going to do now? And so she is standing, and God knows how she did this, I don't know. She is standing outside the recovery rooms and they said to me you're not allowed to have this. And I'm thinking, oh great, this is not good because I don't know what the next step is. I don't know how we're going to get my leg down, I don't know when I'm going to be out of here. Don't know when I'm going to be out of here.
Win:And so, basically, what ended up happening is they let this priest into the recovery room I'm still coming out of anesthesia and she goes. She whispers in my ear to the point of where I can hear, because now I can hear and she goes when I can only be here for five minutes. So what did I do? I squeezed her hand incredibly hard and she I texted her afterwards. I said I don't know how you pulled that one off, because they told me you're not allowing any visitors and I was restricted.
Win:I had auction masks. And she said you looked so scared. And I said I was, because I'm like, here I am with oxygen mask, my leg is halfway contorted and I just had a five hour spinal. So then it doesn't even get better. So then, two days after my surgery, another church member hears me wheezing. I'm so drugged that I don't even realize I have pneumonia, oh gosh. And a friend catches pneumonia for me. Oh no, they tell me that I have pneumonia. So then they stick marks on me and they feel like I have tell me that I have pneumonia, and then it even gets better. Then I get a twisted bell and that was the icing on the cake.
Chris:This is all at the same time, like this is all at one time.
Win:This is two days later. One day later I get a bone marrow. Two days later I get a twisted bell. This is all in a time span of like 48 hours and I still have tubes coming out of my back. I'm still in the hospital and so at 11 o'clock at night they have to put an MG tube down my nose. The problem with the Mg tube is they can't knock you out. They literally can't knock you out. So because you have to swallow, they make the individual swallow the Mg tube down. So here I am with a twisted bowel.
Win:Now they come to figure out why my stomach was so dissonant. I said I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't do this. And I was screaming and I'm surprised I didn't wake anyone else up, waking one else up. But I said to them you guys, god call the mobile x-ray now, because I made them sit me up at the edge of bed to relieve some of the pain from what was the twisted bowel, and it was extremely painful.
Win:And those who know me and those who know me and those who know me publicly to um, um, publicly to, they know that I have a high tolerance pain and so me saying I can't do this, I can't do this is not like me. So by the time time they figure that one out, it's 11 o'clock at night, and so they bring the nurses back in, and of course, the one nurse that says to me while I still the twist of the belt, he goes when I don't feel comfortable putting the MG tube down. So I'm going to bring another nurse in and I'm like, oh great, just do something to relieve my pain here, and it's not coming from my back.
Win:My back is fine, and so, um, my back was always fine after the surgery oh okay, and so, um, because not only was I on heavy, heavy pain meds, but also my back was perfectly fine after the surgery. So therefore, my twisted bowel landed me up with a G-tube for two days and water on a sponge, and those who know me publicly and personally know that I don't like water on sponges. I like food. I like sponges. I like food. I like to drink. I like people.
Chris:We say the regular things of life yes.
Win:And so we got to that, and so basically it's been a roller coaster Through my face. I've managed to make it through this recent episode of back surgery. Wow, and it's just been a roller coaster and yeah.
Chris:Wow.
Win:Oh my gosh, a roller coaster. And yeah, wow, it's just been a very interesting roller coaster.
Chris:I'm sure I mean just to hear all of that and to find out it wasn't days apart. All of this has happened, but you still sound so cheery and uplifting. So that's huge. We can hear it in your voice that it's not like you're dragging down. So my gosh, I mean, what a testimony thus far to say. I wanted to ask you what role does self-compassion play in learning and understanding that you're different, understanding?
Win:that you're different. Well, I learned that I was different. I'm also gay too. Okay, I learned that I was different at the age of six. Okay, gay, and At six.
Chris:Did you know that you were gay at six?
Win:Yeah, I knew that I was gay at six. Wow.
Win:And then gay and cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy came. Gay and cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy came. I knew that something was wrong with my body at the age of six because I was playing soccer with all my able-bodied friends. By the way, I was mainstream all the way up through college. Mind you, I have a college degree and I'm working on my second college degree and so my original one, and so I was mainstream. So I was the only disabled kid in my class. So the role models that I had growing up were as friends of mine were.
Win:My peers were able-bodied and so basically what ended up happening is we all went to play soccer on our local soccer team and when I tried to kick the ball the soccer ball it went sideways. I almost fell over. So then I look over to my involved body classmates. They go and kick the soccer ball. It goes straight, they don't fall over. So I'm like something's wrong with this picture. I go, the soccer ball goes sideways, I almost fall over. So I'm like something's wrong with this picture. So I'm like something's wrong with this picture. Well, by the time I was in seventh grade, I learned that I had CP.
Win:Well, fast forward to 2019,. A couple weeks after I get emotionally and physically abused, I asked a PT and a PC student what CP is. I asked is it a bone and joint condition or a neurological condition? And they go honey, you have a neurological condition. And I went home and called a good friend who had worked with me in the past and I said do you know I have CP? And she goes yeah, because I Googled it and I figured that someone by now had told you what the problem was by now had told you what cerebral palsy was and my parents?
Win:they only admitted that I had CP. They only called it CP, so I only knew it as CP. And the soccer ball story I figured it out. So I'm like right now I have a neurological condition that can't be fixed, that can be treated but can't be fixed, and so I've accepted the neurological condition.
Chris:Wow, my gosh. I mean just to find out that this is all you know at this point. To find that out, it's like wait a minute, you know, like no one said anything. Wow, my gosh. So can I ask you what is a regular day look like in your life? Can you describe it to us?
Win:A regular day. Well, as I'm recording this, nothing is normal but a regular day is. I get up about 6.30 am.
Chris:Oh, that's early.
Win:Wow, I start working between 5.45 and the latest 6.30 and start checking emails and start. Well, right now I need assistance going to the bathroom because I am in on uh restrictions due to my back okay, which I'm trying so hard to follow and I am fine, which is is, you know, it's restrictions.
Win:So typically when I'm not wearing a back brace, I typically do what I can for myself, and then I have AIDS that come in. In morning I'm usually out the door catching the bus by 645. Lately it's been the age. Help me, it's 7 am.
Chris:So are you able to walk alone, by yourself, are you able to walk?
Win:I use a walker and I use a power chair which I still be using when my spinal fusion completely heals, and so that is. But I'm pretty much independent with my daily needs. Even though I can't cook, I can't shower myself, I can at least take myself to the bathroom. As a matter of fact, I still can, even though a back place is weak right now, and so for the next six weeks well, I'm in the middle of six weeks of a back place and so, yeah, that's been interesting, and so this has been a wild adventure as I record this. But for those of you who have back problems, go see a surgeon about it. Don't leave it till the last minute, surgeon about it. Don't leave it till last minute. And I'm going to tell you guys how I got my revision to my spine, my spinal fusion revision. I had to advocate for myself to get that done.
Chris:What is the purpose of it? You've mentioned it many times, but what will it help you do?
Win:The purpose of a spinal fusion is they fuse the spine, they put rods and screws in the spine. Make your spine straight. Your spine straight. It's simply scoliosis which I have, which I have and had. My term at the original time of surgery, which was in 2006, was 50 degrees, and so when it gets 50 degrees, it starts pressing on the internal organs and, yeah, that's not fun. And so the reason why I had it done again is because I knew something wrong with my back, and so, therefore, when I went and got a scoliosis check, I said something is wrong with my back. And they go no, you're fine, go away, you just have scoliosis. And they knew I had rods and screws in my back, but they didn't want to believe me. And they knew I had bods and spurs in my back, but they didn't want to believe me. And they said you're fine, go away, you have scoliosis. The doctor did what he could do in Colorado and I said no, something is wrong with my back.
Win:I want x-rays done. Well, by the time the x-rays got back to them, they go oops, something is wrong with the back, and I had up until April 23rd. Now I don't have it. I had what they called failed back surgery syndrome, meaning the hardware failed, and so I was the one that caught my own failed back surgery syndrome.
Chris:Oh, so you mean this is when you find out that the back surgery you had did not go well.
Win:This is when.
Chris:I from 2006.
Win:Well, I knew back surgery had hadn't gone well because they almost killed me. Um, in 2006 I got.
Win:Oh, I have a allergic reaction to the anesthesia oh my gosh, I had to go dead for 20 minutes and I landed up three days in the ICU, and that was in 2006. So by the time it landed up, um 2023. And then I said I know something's wrong with my back, because it doesn't feel right. I mean, I'm in and out of pain I shouldn't be in and out of pain after having a spinal fusion and my back should be straight but I'm still in and out of pain. The doctor, the physician's assistant, who didn't know me from the hall and all she knows better now than to say go away, um, but she didn't know me from the hall and all she said go away, you're fine, you have scoliosis. Doctor did what he could, and so basically, I'm the one that advocated for my own surgery. It was my decision to have back surgery on April 23rd and yeah.
Chris:Do you regret having the surgery?
Win:Do I regret it? No, okay, it's painful. It's painful now, but it's going to be good in the long run. No, I don't regret it. Okay, good it's funny. You're the first person to ask me that. Publicly Nice one, chris, publicly nice one, chris. And so, um, no, I don't regret it. Okay, that's my point being is, if you feel something is wrong with your body, go tell a doctor and go advocate for yourself, and bring someone with you to advocate for your own body.
Chris:Yes, no, you're right. You're right and just go trust that you know what you're feeling and if you're still feeling unsure, go and see another doctor. Two opinions never hurts, yeah, and if it's the same then they both should come out to the same definitely wow, never hurt right and um.
Win:And the one thing I wanted to tell you is, even though I don't use them, we have in phoenix, ari. We happen to have, even though local hospital is good but we happen to have Mayo Clinic five minutes away from my house. And for those of you that don't know, Mayo Clinic is a teaching hospital. So if you have the luxury of getting out to the Mayo Clinic, if you can drive out here or if you can fly out here, they have the Mayo Clinic in Florida, they have one in Rochester, New York. They have one close to St Louis, they have one out in Phoenix, Arizona, where I am. So if you need to go to a really, really high teaching hospital, come here, because thousands I'm not kidding thousands and thousands of people use the Mayo Clinic every single day. I'm lucky to have it five minutes away from my house and, even though I can't use it right now due to my insurance, I am lucky to have access to it.
Win:And this came to us and they needed a doctor who was skilled to come in and look at me from the male clinic and make sure that they could bring one in. But for those of you who are thinking about, oh, I'm in a small town. I'm outside the US. Try and get yourself in the US to a Mayo Clinic, especially out here, because you may think what Phoenix, Arizona doesn't have good medical care. Oh yes, we do, and so try and get yourself inside the US to better medical care. Now I know in Canada that it's free. I don't know about Japan.
Chris:Yes, we have great healthcare here. We have amazing healthcare here. We pay, but everybody's on the same board.
Win:I know you guys do. I know you guys do you pay in Texas? Yes, I have heard. So the American healthcare system. I have to fight it, the American health care system, because I have to fight it all, day in, day out, despite my disability. They don't give me any breaks with the American health care system and so, yeah, I have to fight it day in, day out, but you have to focus on your body. So my main point being is, if you live in a state with free healthcare, use it. Or if you live in a small town in the US, get to a bigger city.
Win:And I don't care if you have to fly out to Phoenix, arizona or fly to a major clinic just to see someone and just listen to your body, get the opinion you need, and just do that.
Chris:No, and it's such good advice. You're such good advice, you're right, and thank you for the information about those clinics too. I'm sure a lot of people don't even know that, but gives a chance for people to have that information, to be able to research on that. So thank you for that. I wanted to change a little bit and I wanted to ask you is your glass half empty or half full?
Win:Oh, my glass is half full. I'm the opposite person and you don't know this about me.
Chris:Yes, yes, well, you know, I love to ask a question. Everybody always comes up with their interesting answer and their perception about the glass and what's in it, and all I wanted to ask you do you have any final thoughts for our listeners, anything that you want to leave us with, or anything you want people to walk away from this episode and thinking about or leaving with us?
Win:with us. If you see a person in a wheelchair, don't necessarily talk to the aid behind them. Talk to them, yes, wow. No matter if they're physically disabled, mentally disabled you name it, just talk to them.
Chris:That's nicely said. That's nicely said. How do you? Feel that you're treated in the world From the stranger from the regular person.
Win:The world is not meant for me, and I say that with luck, and the world is not meant for me, but no one has done that for me. But I show up until people see me, and that's what exactly happened at my church. Who is now and is still taking care?
Chris:of me.
Win:The church family. I showed up, I kept showing up, until it got to the point where, once this episode comes out, I will share it publicly. And so I kept showing up, showing up, showing up. And for those of you who go to church and do church shopping, so to speak, when you move to a new city or new town, they have welcome cards. Yes, all churches do they have welcome cards. So I take my home church welcome card, I fill it out thinking that oh, they're going to call me and get to know me.
Win:Well, a week goes by, two weeks goes by. They have my cell phone number. Three weeks goes by, four weeks goes by, they haven't called me and they will say they will say anyone new to's got to do something with those guest cards. It's still true, and so any religious organization listening to this you've got to do something with those comment cards.
Chris:Yet they're supposed to win.
Speaker 3:They're supposed to definitely you're right, they're supposed, but they don't.
Win:You're right you just blew up this spot just out here, any church I leave, and so I keep, I kept, and so I kept showing up, showing up, showing up. And the first day I was there, I befriended a priest you know who you are, mind you and she goes. Do you want to? Now, she didn't know me from all in all, she met me via email. Quite frankly, now she knows me like there's no tomorrow, but she goes. Well, do you want to attend a meeting after no? Before church, I said, sure, whatever, I can attend the Spain, I'll just be up there before church and get myself up there before church. And so what that means turned out to be and I'm Episcopalian, by the way, and Episcopals are very similar to Catholics, we believe very similar to Catholics, except we don't have a Pope. And so I'm Episcopal, I'm newly Episcopal, and so what that meaning wound up being? Is it wound up turning into me, getting confirmed?
Win:in the church and it went up being the adult Sunday school and so I'm like, okay, so then the I get. I hear the announcement that the bishop of Arizona is coming to do the confirmation and I have videoed this and I wanted to ask the person who took the video if I can post it online. Eventually, you got confirmed you got confirmed.
Win:I got confirmed. But what they did is stick to me and you can see me on cameras, because they have cameras for the people that are homebound and hospitalized and everything else. And what they did and I'll never forget it is they stuck me in the middle of the queue and I'm like, okay, this is one way to draw attention to a woman in a wheelchair who kept drawing attention to them and they made a big deal out of it. Which I am in the wheelchair, who kept drawing attention to them, and they made a big deal out of it. Which I am in the center of attention and people do that. I make a loud noise when I'm all into a room. You can't get rid of me easily, so people know that. But I feel like, really, you guys, you stuck me right in the middle of this confirmation and the way they placed me. You'll see me in a wheelchair and then you'll see people around me and sitting in shoes and it's like, okay, I placed myself there and so I wouldn't be in people's way.
Win:But it turns out that they just left me. They didn't want me to go over to the second of the queue and it's like, okay, you're in the center Really the pew, and that's like you're in the center.
Win:So that's my final thought if you're really passionate about something, keep showing up. Keep showing up to that church until they have to do something with you. And, of course, the disabled love the disabled or love them into any church they see fit. Showing up and keep banging the drum to these churches even louder, or to these institutions even louder, that the disabled exist. I mean, it took me a while to get my church to understand that, yes, I do exist, yes, I'm a human and they'll believe in me. They won't leave me alone.
Win:I love that they were like what is this person doing? And for a while they were just probably oblivious to, and I made myself knowing that I have CP, I'm in a wheelchair and this is me this exactly exactly.
Chris:Oh wait, that's so sweet. I mean, I love that, the fact that how you you put that in for but it's this is. It's a sweet story about the church and when they hear it they're gonna laugh about it because people will know who they are for sure and so it's like take me or leave me yes, like it's rent for sure for those of you who are listening.
Win:You kind of have to make yourself be the elephant in the room. Be $10 bucks, be more the elephant in the room than sit down. Just not let people take advantage of you and just sit there and just be present, be engaging and just make them take you under the wing. Make them take you under the wing and especially you ask with medical care. Be your medical advocate if you can.
Chris:Maybe be a little aggressive, if you have to for sure.
Win:Ha, ha ha. For sure, yeah, I just wanted.
Chris:As we come to this close, I wanted to ask you can you tell everyone how we can reach you? Can you give us your information?
Win:before we close out, just Google my name.
Chris:Okay, well, all of that will be, of course, with this episode, but they'll be able to find all of your information, just Google my name. Yes.
Win:Easily. And then, if you Google, win at Life. That is my podcast Excellent, and it should be found in all podcast plans, including smart speakers, yes and so, and that information will be listed here as well, for sure.
Chris:We want to thank you so much for your time and taking this time out to just share with us and just give your opinion about things. It was such a wonderful interview and very enlightening as well. So thank you so much for being a guest here. On Glass Half Full.
Speaker 3:We're so happy to have you today. Yes, you're so welcome.
Chris:Awesome. You have a great and wonderful day. Thank you for your time.
Win:I will.
Chris:Thank you, bye-bye. Hello, listeners of Glass Half Full, thank you for tuning in to another inspiring episode of our podcast. I'm your host, chris Levins, and I want to express my gratitude to each and every one of you for being a part of our supportive community. Remember, glass Half Full is not just a podcast. It's a safe platform for everyone to share their life experiences. Your stories and voice matter and we appreciate you for being here with us. If you enjoyed today's episode and want to stay updated with our future content, please subscribe, follow and rate our podcast on Apple Music, spotify and YouTube. Your support means the world to us and it helps us reach even more listeners who can benefit from these valuable life experiences. As we wrap up this episode, always keep in mind you are blessed, no matter the challenges you face. There's a reservoir of strength within you. Until next time, stay positive and remember the glass is always half full, see ya.