Monday, June 28, 2010
My Radio Interview with Hailey Wiseman -
Hi everyone! Here is an interview I did with the remarkable Hailey Wiseman. She is great and this is my favorite interview to date. Its 45 minutes in length and I hope you like it.
Dream Big! John
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/haileywiseman/2010/06/28/perseverance-faith-triumph
Dream Big! John
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/haileywiseman/2010/06/28/perseverance-faith-triumph
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Interview on the Stan Milam Radio Show -
Hi everyone! Here is a radio interview I did recently on the Stan Milam Radio Show. It's about 30 minutes in length and I hope you like it.
http://www.wclo.com/podcasts/stan-milam-show/2010/jun/15/overcoming-challenges-cp/
http://www.wclo.com/podcasts/stan-milam-show/2010/jun/15/overcoming-challenges-cp/
Sunday, June 13, 2010
My speech to the 2010 graduates of Garden City High School -
To the graduating class of 2010. I bet I know what's on many of your minds. Who is this guy and more importantly, how long is he going to talk because I have a party to get to? 30 years ago I had the same thoughts. Don't worry; this will just take a few minutes.
I grew up around here, over on Gilman Street. It's the big house with an anchor parked on the front lawn. My brother, Jim lives there now with his wife, Sallie and their two children. Jim is just one of my seven brothers and sisters raised in that home by my parents, Edgar and Shirley. Many of your parents might know my father by another name, his alter-ego of Fred the Ice Cream Man.
My childhood was fairly typical for children growing up in the 1970s. We played Nerf football out in the street, Home Run Derby on the corner lot, and rode our Schwinn Sting Ray bikes around the neighborhood until the streetlights came on.
But as nostalgic as my life on Gilman sounds, my childhood was considerably different from most kids because of one simple fact. I was born with cerebral palsy which is a condition where my brain and body don't communicate very well. CP affected the muscles in my legs and arms as well as the muscles that control movement of my eyes. I was in constant pain.
When I was a kid, Mom drove me a couple days a week to Children's Hospital where I underwent grueling physical therapy sessions with someone I refer to as the Administer of Pain. When not at Children's, I was made to do my exercises at home. It seemed like I was always striding around our living room with thick surgical rubber tubing looped around my skinny legs in the hope that they would grow strong and true. I walked with a limp, wore thick glasses and long pants all summer long.
As sick as I was growing up, my folks raised me to believe I was no different from anyone else and could accomplish anything I put my mind to. So when I told them that I wanted to join the junior high wrestling team, Dad said, "Sure, go ahead. Just don't come home crying saying it's too hard. Finish what you start, Mister." I never won a match during my entire wrestling career. But I kept my word to my father and never quit.
When I told my mom and dad of my life-long dream of joining the Navy, they patted me on the back and wished me luck.
Well, I failed the entrance physical needed to join the military. I fell over when ordered to get down in a catcher's squat. I was too weak to hold up my own body weight and was told the Navy couldn't use someone like me.
Arriving home in shame, I told Dad that I couldn't pass the physical because it was too hard. My father looked me square in the eye and said, "John, life is hard. Question is, what are you going to do about it?"
The next day found me down in the basement on that house on Gilman struggling to get into that catcher's squat. I worked out every day for a year in that musty cellar, and then tried to join the Navy again. I passed this time with flying colors. I think I was the best duck-walker in the entire building.
When blood poisoning ravaged my legs in boot camp and brought me to the brink of being discharged and sent home, I refused to give up on my dream. I kept at it. Ten grueling weeks later I graduated from basic training with my parents sitting proudly in the grandstands.
Graduates, you are going to leave here today and find out a few things fairly quickly. You'll learn there are people in this world that will place roadblocks in your way and smile as they do it. These folks will use words like "impossible"; "never"; or phrases like, "That's the way it's always been done around here."
I've met those people. And if I'd listened to them, I wouldn't be standing here today, a kid who left his hometown 30 years ago with a limp and a dream of serving his country only to return as a Senior Chief Petty Officer of the United States Navy. If I had listened, I wouldn't have never begun typing out my memoir which was recently published and now inspiring people all around the world.
Graduates. When you leave here, you will find that life is hard. My question to you is this -
What are you going to do about it?
May God Bless you all and may God continue to bless this great nation.
Thank you.
http://www.johnwquinn.com
I grew up around here, over on Gilman Street. It's the big house with an anchor parked on the front lawn. My brother, Jim lives there now with his wife, Sallie and their two children. Jim is just one of my seven brothers and sisters raised in that home by my parents, Edgar and Shirley. Many of your parents might know my father by another name, his alter-ego of Fred the Ice Cream Man.
My childhood was fairly typical for children growing up in the 1970s. We played Nerf football out in the street, Home Run Derby on the corner lot, and rode our Schwinn Sting Ray bikes around the neighborhood until the streetlights came on.
But as nostalgic as my life on Gilman sounds, my childhood was considerably different from most kids because of one simple fact. I was born with cerebral palsy which is a condition where my brain and body don't communicate very well. CP affected the muscles in my legs and arms as well as the muscles that control movement of my eyes. I was in constant pain.
When I was a kid, Mom drove me a couple days a week to Children's Hospital where I underwent grueling physical therapy sessions with someone I refer to as the Administer of Pain. When not at Children's, I was made to do my exercises at home. It seemed like I was always striding around our living room with thick surgical rubber tubing looped around my skinny legs in the hope that they would grow strong and true. I walked with a limp, wore thick glasses and long pants all summer long.
As sick as I was growing up, my folks raised me to believe I was no different from anyone else and could accomplish anything I put my mind to. So when I told them that I wanted to join the junior high wrestling team, Dad said, "Sure, go ahead. Just don't come home crying saying it's too hard. Finish what you start, Mister." I never won a match during my entire wrestling career. But I kept my word to my father and never quit.
When I told my mom and dad of my life-long dream of joining the Navy, they patted me on the back and wished me luck.
Well, I failed the entrance physical needed to join the military. I fell over when ordered to get down in a catcher's squat. I was too weak to hold up my own body weight and was told the Navy couldn't use someone like me.
Arriving home in shame, I told Dad that I couldn't pass the physical because it was too hard. My father looked me square in the eye and said, "John, life is hard. Question is, what are you going to do about it?"
The next day found me down in the basement on that house on Gilman struggling to get into that catcher's squat. I worked out every day for a year in that musty cellar, and then tried to join the Navy again. I passed this time with flying colors. I think I was the best duck-walker in the entire building.
When blood poisoning ravaged my legs in boot camp and brought me to the brink of being discharged and sent home, I refused to give up on my dream. I kept at it. Ten grueling weeks later I graduated from basic training with my parents sitting proudly in the grandstands.
Graduates, you are going to leave here today and find out a few things fairly quickly. You'll learn there are people in this world that will place roadblocks in your way and smile as they do it. These folks will use words like "impossible"; "never"; or phrases like, "That's the way it's always been done around here."
I've met those people. And if I'd listened to them, I wouldn't be standing here today, a kid who left his hometown 30 years ago with a limp and a dream of serving his country only to return as a Senior Chief Petty Officer of the United States Navy. If I had listened, I wouldn't have never begun typing out my memoir which was recently published and now inspiring people all around the world.
Graduates. When you leave here, you will find that life is hard. My question to you is this -
What are you going to do about it?
May God Bless you all and may God continue to bless this great nation.
Thank you.
http://www.johnwquinn.com
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