“My Life Long Challenge”
By Derrell Davis
copyright
2009
To me, my life has
always been a challenge. There was always an obstacle I had to overcome,
whether it was showing my brother I could run faster than him, or
showing my parents I could get A’s and B’s.
Even though my life seemed to be fun at times,
my life could get emotional at the same time. Coming up I was confused,
I didn’t know if my parents were mad at me and my brother, or if they
were mad at each other. But it started to get clearer when they got a
divorce and split up.
It seemed like it was
just yesterday. They were always arguing about something out of the
blue. Every time they argued, my brother cried, I think it was because
he knew more than I did. But I never really cried about it until my dad
actually left and everything was explained to me. I couldn’t believe
when they told me, but I was just a child so I had no choice but to deal
with it. So, as my life went on I had to rely on my brother to show me
things that my mother couldn’t show me. However, my brother was
teaching me how to do the wrong things rather than he right things. I
know it sounds sad, but if it weren’t for my brother I wouldn’t know
what smoking is like, and I
wouldn’t know about “popping pills”. I probably would have never
stolen anything if it wasn’t for him either. I’m not saying that he
is the blame for all of my mistakes, but if I wouldn’t have seen my
brother do these things, I probably would have never experienced them.
So yea, I admit that I
wasn’t helping myself by making these decisions, but I was still
trying to do the right things when it was expected. To be honest I
wasn’t always a problem child, I mean I had my good days and my bad
days, but I still showed respect to my mother. That’s because she was
always there for me and I love her.
However, as the years
passed I became addicted to the trouble I was getting in. I started
skipping school to get high, and when I did go to school I would get
referrals or get suspended. The first fight I ever got in, I got charged
with battery because the kid had braces. Once I got that first charge on
my record is when my life. That was when I realized that my dad had to
come back into my life. That was when I realized that my dad still loved
me. He didn’t mean to hurt my brother and me when he left; he just had
to leave because my mom and he were going through some things.
So now I’m living in
Virginia with my mom and my brother, and my dad is about 16 hours away in the
sunshine state Florida. Even though my dad was so far away, he still made the effort to come
and support me when I had to go to court. My dad fought long and hard
until we won. I got off with self defense, and I got to go home at the
end of the day.
Then there was another
time when I was chilling with some of my friends and a fight broke out.
A kid ran up to me and I got stabbed. The knife was going for my chest,
but I blocked it with my hand and it went in. It was a bad wound, and I
had to have surgery done, but I survived through the therapy. It took 6
months, but I overcame it. After that I had to go to court again and the
kid who stabbed me was sentenced to nine years. This time my dad was fed
up, and my mom was just as just as fed up with me as he was.
So my parents agreed to
move me to Florida to live with my dad. I didn’t want to at first, but then when I
thought about it. It was a great opportunity for me to get a fresh
start. I was already two grades behind and I was already getting myself
a bad reputation.
I finally had the
chance to prove that I wasn’t a problem. In just a couple of days, I
went from living in Virginia
with my mom and my brother, to living in Florida with my dad and my step mom. At first it was very frustrating, but I
eventually got used to it. I had do get used to using my manners again,
because when my dad left, I hardly ever used them. However, once I moved
in with my dad and step mom I caught on quickly. Before I knew it, I was
enrolled in my new school and things were looking pretty good. My
conduct wasn’t all that good, but I was trying.
Then that was when my
teachers were starting to see how intelligent I actually was, so they
decided to bump me up a grade. That put me in the ninth grade. I was
still a grade behind, but that is a lot better than two grades behind.
So I was in the 9th
grade and my grades were excellent. I made A’s and B’s and my
parents were very pleased with me. Every time I brought home an honor
roll report card I would get some type of reward. It was almost like
every marking period was my birthday. One marking period I got a $200.00
bike and another time I got a PSP game device. So I tried to make honor
roll every single marking period.
Then I started hanging
around the wrong people. I started smoking again and my grades were
gradually decreasing. As my grades dropped my behavior got worse. I
started getting write ups, then those write ups grew into detentions,
then I started getting suspended. Then principle finally kicked me out
of high school in my sophomore year. Then that was when the worst of the
worst happened.
I came from church one
day and I was getting my home cleaned up. I was supposed to be going
back to church for an afternoon service, but god had different plans for
me. My dad was upstairs and I was downstairs. My dad thought he heard a
noise, so he called my name. I never answered which was very unusual, so
he yelled my name again, and still he got no reply. Then out of nowhere
he saw me standing in front of him with my eyes rolled into the back of
my head. Then I fell to the floor and my whole body turned pale. My dad
instantly started doing CPR. He said that when I hit the floor my body
went completely stiff. My step mom went crazy, and then she finally
called an ambulance. Meanwhile my dad was still doing CPR. Even when the
paramedics got there, he was still doing CPR. It was a whole 22 minutes
that I was out. The paramedics finally revived me, but I was
unconscious. They drove me to Flagler hospital in Palm Coast Fl where
the doctors checked me out. They observed me for a little while, and
they saw that there was nothing they could do for me. Then I was
airlifted to Wolfson’s Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida and when I got there, I was in a coma.
My
mom and my brother both flew down from Virginia to come and be with me. They had no idea what was going on and what was
about to happen. Then the doctor came in and talked to my family in
private. My doctor told them that I was not going to make it at all; he
gave no percentage of me making it or nothing. He just flat out said
that I was pretty much a vegetable and my life was pretty much over.
This whole time my family was breaking down into tears. The doctor
finally said that if a miracle were to happen, and I was to wake back
up, I would have permanent brain damage for the rest of my life.
My family was going
through misery while they were waiting for me to wake back up. They
couldn’t believe that just
out of nowhere I had a heart attack and would not wake up from this
coma. It seemed like my own doctor didn’t have a lot of hope. As the
days went by, other nurses and strangers would stop by my room to see if
the kid that had the heart attack woke up yet, but each time they
stopped by I was still in a coma.
Then one day, my mom
and my brother were both standing over me holding my hands praying to
god that I would just wake up and smile in their faces. Then out of
nowhere, I woke up. They didn’t see my eyes open at first, but I made
it certain that they knew I was there. Then I said out loud, very loud,
why is everybody holding my hands? My mom jumped and my brother gasped
real loud. All of my family and my doctor came running in. they were so
happy to see me awake. I could see the shock on everyone’s face.
As tubes were pulled
out of my body I realized that something really bad must have happened
to me; I just couldn’t pin point what it was. Then that’s when my
doctor came back into my room and started to explain what was going on.
First he told me that he was looking at was a miracle. No one in the
whole hospital could believe what they saw when they saw me walking
around. He was tearing up a little bit while he was explaining what
happened to me. I could tell that he was just so happy to see me alive.
He told me the reason I
was in the hospital was because I had a heart attack. He told me that
there is a right ventricle valve in my heart that isn’t pumping enough
blood. He also said that my mom having a heart murmur just made the
matters even worse. He told me a number of other things, but I don’t
remember everything he said. Later on that day my doctor came to a
conclusion to do a surgery on me. He told me that in order to prevent
another heart attack, he would have to implant a device to monitor my
heart and keep it pumping.
The doctor told my dad
that he could decide if he wanted this operation to be completed or not.
My dad needed some time to think it over. The doctor gave him as much
time as he needed. Then the next day, my dad and I came up with the
decision to have the surgery. We were kind of hesitant because this was
going to stop all sports and recreational activities, but it was either
that or another heart attack when I wasn’t expecting it. So, I finally
had the surgery done, and I was able to go home the same day. I told my
mom and my brother goodbye, and I that loved them. And before I knew it
I was on my way back to Palm Coast Florida.
To this day I’ve been
telling my story to everyone who has been interested. Most people really
can’t believe when I tell them I was dead for over 20 minutes when
they see me up and walking around. I just tell them that God has
something really important he wants me to do.
Most people take life
for granted, but now as I sit in this cell and think about all my
mistakes in life, I realize how important it is to take care of myself
and be a good respectable person. My life has always been full of
challenges, and I know these challenges are going to continue. I plan on
going to college when I get out of here, and I want to become an
Entrepreneur. That is going to be a huge challenge, but I know I can do
it because if I can overcome DEATH, I can overcome anything.
The End
