User:John "JC" Colyer
John "JC" Colyer - Trials and Tribute
People have called me JC since I was 15, I'm now 56. My name is John and when I was young John was the most popular male name so we had nicknames so when you called out John 5 boys didn't turn around. I live in New Jersey, and grew up here too. I am a person with a disability called Cerebellar Ataxia
I am physically disabled and that causes me to struggle with depression. I toke medication for depression for 4 years and I felt the difference. Having a movement disorder is hard because think of how much you move without giving it a second thought, I have to think about every step, it wares me out :) I don't put myself in situations I feel I might get injured. I did injure myself in 2010, I'll share that later, Stay Strong!
I struggle with a late onset disease that causes my physical disability, as a youth I ran and played sports now I use 2 Quad canes to assist my walking and struggle to go up a curb, when I started noticing it and family , friends and co workers brought it to my attention they noticed something was wrong I finally knew I needed to see a neurologist. 5 Minutes after the Doctor walked in the examining room he looked at me with wide eyes and said, "How long have you been this way?", I said , "What Way?" He said talk and walk like that, my speech is slurred and I didn't know it was that bad, now its worse. I walked out of his office feeling broke and knowing nothing would be the same.
I'm not folowing chronological order but I have something I've noticed on my journey. Figures of Authority having the "Do as I say, not as I Do' attitude . It seems that they don't think anyone will challenge them, I feel the silent majority is getting louder and is challenging the methods of authority.
I always had to work extra hard to be average in sports, now thinking back I always had something off. I remember seeing friends of mine I hadn't seen in years and one said they knew it was me by my walk, I didn't understand what they meant at the time but now I do.
Ataxia causes you to stumble and walk with a wide gait and slur your speech
I've been diagnosed with the rare disease Ataxia, it effects my balance , co ordination and speech. I know its hard to understand so I advocate for it
On Disability from Band Technician for The B Street Band “I went to my primary care DR, I go every 3 months for a blood work check, he received the MRI report from my 1st MRI in 2007, a couple words were in the report he did not know meaning, he googled them, seems tech who read films said it looks like a birth defect, my father said I was born with orange size mass on the back base of my skull where cerebellum is, I have auto immune disease in my family which attacked my cerebellum cause it was weak. Neurologist in 2007 never told me it was in report ,just said he could do nothing for me, I have been clumsy and my speech was off my whole life, now people around me then said they noticed, they never told me before, I guess I was clueless.Volunteer at JBJ Soul Kitchen,Toms River ,NJ
Hypoplasia is the word my PCP googled from my 1st MRI report ,
WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER