Because she inspired me

A client I had last week was a quadriplegic woman with cerebral palsy only nineteen years old. There was a key outside her door so that I could get into the house. I walked in the room to introduce myself and she greeted me with her name and a smile. We talked for a bit and I asked her what she usually does during the summer breaks because she goes to school during the year. She said she likes to talk on the phone to her friends because sometimes they (her friends) have bad days.

I got her out of bed, into her chair, opened her phonebook and dialed. Held the phone to her ear and listened while she asked her friend, "What's wrong? What, you sleep or something?" Reluctantly she let her off the phone and acknowledged that "she just didn't sound right." She looked farther down the list and said, "Can't call her no more. She's dead." I asked how her friend died. "She went into a seizure and didn't come out of it. I get seizures too." Then she went on down the list.