My name is Roderick James Addington.  I am 12 years old.

I'm also in a wheelchair.  I cannot walk or move my arms or legs.  I can move my arms a little (shoulders, too), but not that well, not as well as I would like. 

I was injured in a diving accident two years ago when I was ten.  Dove into shallow water and broke my neck w hen I landed wrong.  I should have known better; now I have to live with this for the rest of my life. 

Nobody's to blame.  It's all my fault.  I'm just glad my family has forgiven me, but I still have moments where I do blame myself.  If I hadn't done that, I would still be playing pee wee football, baseball, or going swimming with my friends.  Now I have to have people care for me and have therapy or see my doctors every so often, to make sure I am getting along okay.

I can breathe on my own; if the break in my neck had been just a fraction of an inch higher I would have needed a ventilator to breathe (or a tracheotomy), so I consider myself extremely blessed.  As bad as it seems now, it could have very easily been a lot worse than it was.  I'm very grateful that I don't need a trache or a vent. 

I have two sisters (Willow and Jasmine; they are ten and five) and a baby brother named Matthias (we call him Matty; he is two).  I'm the oldest one in my family.  My mom and step dad do a wonderful job in taking care of me and Willow likes to help them out.  If one of them cannot be with me, then my grandmother, who is a registered nurse, takes over so my family can have a break from me.  It's a wonderful arrangement.

Do I get sad about what has happened to me?? Sometimes, but I do try not to dwell on it so much.  I try to keep busy with church, school, being with my friends (as well as my family), or write stories and poems (mostly about my experiences since the accident).  I'd like to write a book for kids and show them that even though I may be paralyzed, I am still a person and I am still the same kid I was before I got hurt.  If people can just accept me (and get past the chair or the fact that I can't move much), then we'll be a lot better off.

Well, I hate to go, but it's nearly time to go home from school.  I will write in here again soon; until later, this is Roderick Addington saying so long; may God bless you always!

~Roderick James, Teaneck, New Jersey.