My Journey

I'm not Handicapped, I'm Handicapable.
(and no i didnt get that from due date lol)

I left home and drove from nj to california in search of an independent life and safe access to my medicine* so i can live. It's been an interesting journey, lots of ups, lots of downs, and even though I am now weaker than ever...nothing will ever stop me from living my dream, regardless of how long I get to live.

Life is too precious and short to waste time. And I'm Ready.

The three videos below are before and after i left nj, an interview with the Washington Post during my road trip, some audition, and one other one hahaha idk i didnt set up the web site, im kinda lost there :P below that are blog entries! thank you!

Feel free to contact me at all times: mike@mikeywheels.com


Help to save Mikey's life

As you know, Mikey has always been able to smile through the pain, no matter what, until recently. The pain in his stomach is now worse than ever and has led to an inability to eat, causing rapid weight loss. At 6'1", he's a meager 75 lbs and dropping fast. It's getting more difficult for Mikey to smile through the pain and fear.

One of the only places where Mikey can get help is the MAYO clinic in Minnesota. There, a team of specialized doctors will work together to figure out how his illnesses affect each other and can be treated to restore health and balance to his body so he can keep living his incredible life.

All of this obviously comes with a large amount of costs, which can only be covered with the help and donations of as many people as possible – even if it's just a dollar. Please click on one of the two following links to access the crowd funding campaigns that will help Mikey get better. Thank you!











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Today

I'm living where I want to, just wish I felt better. Lots of things to consider as a future. No energy tho. Thank goodness for good friends. Few and far between. Life is good. But often lonely.

Happy new year
Love

6 comments :

Unknown at: January 4, 2012 at 8:00 AM said...

Hey Mike, Happy New Year! I came upon your youtube videos while I was studying and then I found my way to your blog. I have to say you're a pretty awesome guy...keep on truckin'
Your attitude is phenomenal and it's that state of mind that keep people going. Good luck and best wishes :*

Susan B in at: January 4, 2012 at 10:46 PM said...

Michael - You are an inspiration.
Your appreciation and acceptance of yourself and your circumstances is amazing. The world would be a much better place if everyone had your attidude about embracing life and other people. I'm praying that you can feel the eternal Love that I know surrounds you.
I Love you too! Susan

Game Art Jinx at: January 7, 2012 at 5:43 PM said...

I wont lie, I stumbled on your page after googling who the heck 'Kayden Kross' is lol. I'm a lazy
Game Art student in uk and its people such as yourself who remind me to get off my ass and do something with my life. I have no physical afflictions and yet I still get bogged down feeling incapable. I really shouldn't. Anyways bud, your life looks damn adventurous to me.Keep on keeping on :) Peace

Yvonne at: January 20, 2012 at 5:55 PM said...

Mikey, my friend Chelsea Austin from NJ sent me to your page, and my god am I glad. You have been an enormous inspiration, to say the very least. Today I found out that a dance group which features physically disabled dancers is coming to the college in my town, and it reminded me again of you, and of your amazing will to outshine darkness, your courage, and your metamorphic impact upon my life. You are in my positive thoughts every single day since finding your blog and videos, and have helped me remember to smile even when it hurts, to laugh and love fully, wholeheartedly. Keep being your unbelievable, effing gorgeous,wonderful, happy self. Much Love.

Kathy at: January 25, 2012 at 8:58 PM said...

Mike, I first learned about you several years ago from the Washington Post article (I live in the area and was going to offer you a place to stay then but you moved on). I started to listen to Radiohead because of you. Thanks.

I loved you then and I love you now. You are a human being and that isn't any easy thing to be. Many people opt out. You have to want it.

I am a better person because of you. I don't have MD; I have MS. (That's not why I am a better person.) It struck within 3 hours and it took my right foot and the next week it took my right side, hair down to the bottom of toes. After 6 months in ICU, a brain biopsy, rehabs, relapses, never-going-to-walk-agains, my spine turning into a wet noodle and two months in a nursing home, I was released "into the community" as the social workers say. Scary thought. The only person who had waited for me was my cat in a studio apartment that i had never seen and she makes it worthwhile. An artist friend told me, "Find your passion and follow it, even to the point of obsession." My passion was continuation of life and walking again. I walked and started hiking about 4 years later. You took your journey where you wanted to--California. I took my journey in one place.

The reason I am a better person is because of today. Saturday evening I fell on solid ice in the parking lot. The left side took the hit, which is fine because it's stronger, but my right MS foot took a sprain when falling. I am wearing a splint on the right leg and am told to keep weight off it. ? When I went in for MS treatment at the hospital today, I grabbed the last wheelchair at registration. It was a wreck of a chair with plastic peeling away and no foot rests, but it was so light and turned on a dime. I went whizzing down the hall with my right leg straight out in front of me and did a couple of spins. They taught me how to wheel at NRH and in my wheelchair group were three men, two of whom had taken bullets to the spine. (We were the spinal cord unit.) I got perspective real fast. They were so kind and generous with their love, other guys taught me to to do wheelies. I laughed for the first time playing balloon badminton in the wheely group when I didn't know I could still laugh.

I thought of all that today while I was flying down the hospital hall and found my freedom in a wheelchair. I was laughing, spinning around, and remembering that embrace of pure love that only people
reaching for life know how to give. And then I thought of you. What a remarkable person you are, so loving of the world, your gorgeous, witty, and graceful being staring back from the computer to give inspiration to so many with those eyes, god, those beautiful eyes.

I loved you today as I spun around in my wheels in Georgetown Hospital and thanked you over and over for your inspiration and your smile and your being. And I said to myself if he and I both aren't alive by the end of this day and I can't write him that email that I started years ago and was much better than this one, well then I am less than dust at his feet.

Thank for being such a brilliant human being who graces this earth with your presence. Love, love, and more love. Katherine

Anonymous at: February 3, 2012 at 12:25 PM said...

Keep Fighting Mikey ;)
JB

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