My name is Oliver and I have Cerebral Palsy.

CP affects different people in different ways. I am a quadriplegic which means this condition has affected all four of my limbs. I cannot write but I type with two fingers on my computer and I usually use voice activated typing. 

I am also a twin to my sister. Her name is Georgia  and I also have another sister named Laila Who is 3 years older than me. My younger brother is Jessie.

I live with my grandparents. I have been living with  them for three years now. I don’t know how they have the energy to take care of 3 noisy, energetic and problematic youngsters like us. Of course, there are also the CP things which means I need a lot more care. 

 My parents are divorced so my grandparents are my official caregivers. They definitely need a medal for their courage throughout this journey.

 I don’t see my dad often but sometimes me and my sisters  go and see my mom. She lives with my step dad Marck and my brother Jessie. She has long blonde hair,is smart, kind and friendly. She has 6 dogs- they are all rescues.  

I love playing games on my iPad- some of my favourite games are ROBLOX and Call of Duty.

I have three good friends Kayden, Alex and Demi–mae. We like to play ROBLOX together and I also go to school with a boy called Alex. He is truly funny. I go to an awesome school.  There are usually three other  people there – Alex, Chloe and Abby. My favourite is Abby because she is so chilled about everything.

 I have two  teachers who are kind, funny and very helpful. I really enjoy being with them. They never judge my disability.

I actually do not have any good Memories with my Parents. But one of my best memories in my life is when my grandparents adopted a puppy-a   Golden Retriever. Her name is Lexi.   She was born in East London so we had to fly her all the way to get to us in Johannesburg. Lexi is a very loving and Intelligent dog. How lucky are we?

 Another one of my favorite memories is when I was younger and  Rosie, my Helper and I used to play in the garden. We used to pick leaves and mix them  in water and pretend we were scientists.

We crushed up flower petals and added them. I felt so important. It was such great fun. I felt so happy and free.

Rosie and I also baked biscuits and sold them for Money so I could buy boxing  gloves. At least I was resourceful!

People in our street are actually also very kind. They  supported us and gave us all the money we  needed and more. It was amazing and I loved my little business venture.

Our area is closed off by a boom.

There are 3 Guards at our Boom Whose names are  Jabu, Mabaso and Daniel. They are such friendly and reliable men. I feel really safe with them. Plus, it helps being special like me-people always show me empathy, which I  like taking advantage of.

So, as I grew up  ofcourse at some point I had to go to school.

I went to Gr 0 and Gr 1 at a private school. It wasn’t that nice. It was difficult to communicate with others and I felt very lonely and isolated. It’s generally difficult for teachers to deal with kids like me so I do understand the challenge. But I’m definitely luckier now, as I am guided fully by my teachers.

We go every second weekend to my Uncle Gray- my father’s brother.  He has 4 children: Connor,Joshua,  Sarah and Zach. It’s always such fun to be with them. And he also has a Big car-A Ford. We do all sorts of exciting things Like roller skating. He also takes us to church every Sunday and we get delicious croissants on the way. I am so spoilt. It’s a huge treat and something to look forward to.

I was actually home-schooled for 2 years by a lovely Teacher Taryn. Kayden and Demi–Mae are her two children. 

Kayden and Demi love  to go out.  One of their favourite places is the skate park.

Kayden loves to build things like LEGO and cardboard guns. The creations are certainly remarkable.

Alex loves to work out. He has a purple belt in karate which is an amazing feat.  Demi likes cooking and arts and crafts. She is bubbly and chatty and super entertaining.

We have a wheelchair ramp at home so I can get up and down the stairs. It’s frustrating but I do need my freedom. I also have an electric wheelchair so I can get around more quickly. It’s so difficult at times and I wish I was more mobile.

 I have had seven operations in my life. Those are the joys of having a twisted body. Some include  botox in my legs and putting pins in my  hips. I have also had what is called an A-frame, which is basically two casts with a small pole in the middle which is when they put the pins in. I could not move my legs at all for 6 weeks. It was very itchy and uncomfortable. But I got through it. Again….

The joys of CP!!

So, I do enjoy movies.

  One of my favorite shows on tv is  Young Sheldon. It is about a little boy who is very smart. I actually relate to him a lot in the sense that he is so different and people just dont understand him.

He is also very funny and I love people with a great sense of humor.

One of my favorite things to do when I was  younger was horse Riding lessons with my horse named  Gemini.  She was so slick and beautiful and the fastest horse in the  stable.

But I don’t ride anymore because it’s boring riding around a dry field all the time and I need more stimulation and interaction right now.

It is also not easy for me to eat at restaurants because of the wheelchair which doesn’t move around smoothly or easily in confined spaces. I attract a lot of curious stares that’s for sure. Another difficult thing for me is to get in and out of the toilets which makes it really uncomfortable especially if I need to pee. Yes, we do actually need to do that too!

I love  taking Lexi, my dog to training at a park in Edenvale. It’s so interesting.

 There are about six other dogs there and they learn how to sit, stay and  lie down. I love to  watch the dogs do all of their exercises. I also long to get up and run around with them-which only happens in my dreams.

One of my sisters favourite things to do is ice skating and roller  skating. They are not that good- But they still have great fun. I also ice skate … not in my wheelchair but with my very resourceful uncle who attaches me to a cooler box and glides round together. It’s amazing! I have to say it is the most wonderful feeling of freedom. I’m truly lucky to have such a wonderful and patient uncle.  

I have a standing wheelchair. It is

 good for me to stand because it strengthens my muscles and helps me become a lot stronger. I do a lot of standing in physiotherapy. This is to strengthen my bones and my balance. But, honestly, its really a strain.

 I also love camping .

One of my favorite camping trips was when me and my cousin Joshua went into the woods on an  adventure but unfortunately we got stuck in the mud-which was not surprising. Joshua pushed   as hard as he could but it was  no good because my wheelchair weighs  200 kg  so Joshua was not able to get it out of the mud but luckily I had my Apple watch so I was able to call my grandfather-my hero or should I say Superhero? And he finally was able to get it out of the mud. We found a small tree so Josh used his axe to cut it down.  Then we used  the wood to start a fire because  Josh  also had a lighter. How smart is that? 

My grandparents changed the bathroom downstairs so that it will be easier for me to use. But it’s still not easy for me.  I can reach the tap and soap and towels, but someone needs to help me get into the shower.  There is now a seat there for me to sit on and a hand shower so I can wash myself. But I keep dropping the soap because it’s slippery. It’s actually so tiresome.  I even fell off the seat once and banged my head-ouch. It was very sore.  So now I am rather scared to use the shower by myself.  I bath instead. I really do love the bath.  Especially in winter when the water makes me so warm. There are some joys.

A few days ago my dog Lexi got out the gate without us  realizing.  She went to the neighbor’s House to play with their dog. We worried a little. So I went down the road searching for her. I even  went to the security guard and asked him to check the cameras because she was nowhere to be found in the house. Eventually

 at five o’clock she came back because that was her dinner time. How very clever of her.

I was so relieved when she came back because I absolutely adore her and it would have really been sad if she was gone.

But that’s life.

 For my birthday this year we went to warm baths.  We left at 3:00 on Friday and had to drive for about 2 hours. When we got there we unpacked the car  and stayed in a small cottage. Warm Baths in the Water Park so we put on our swimming costumes and went to the pool. There are also lots of water slides- my favorite is the lazy river which just goes on for ever.  After a while in the pool we went to Spur- I had steak. It was quite delicious.

Oh well… holidays are over and it’s back to school and slogging again!! Sighhhh…