Introduction:
You are about to read a paper that I wrote in high school. This paper was written to better justify to everyone who I am and the events that occurred in order to get myself where I am today. At first, this paper was my way of helping the students in my school better understand about consequences and what it is like to be ridiculed. This was also the inspiration for my decision to write a biography of my life. Over the past three years I have written quite a bit, but there is one problem, I've never been satisfied with any way I've started my book. I am very judgmental when it comes to my creativity. I always throw it away because I feel the reader would not enjoy it.
What I am attempting to do is get people's feedback and advice to what the reader would be looking to read within the first few paragraphs/chapters of my book. Any advice that you can provide for me would be most appreciated!
I hope that you enjoy reading this and I look forward to hearing from you. In advance, I apologize if I made you cry. Ha ha.
A New Beginning
By Antonios Tassogloy
1997
I. My Accident:
I have not always been disabled. I acted like any child would at age 11. I wrestled for the Haddon Township Hawks, hung out with friends, and got into plenty of trouble. Not only did I act like an 11 year old, I also thought like one. I wanted my independence, didn't think much of school, nor did I know the true definition of 'consequences'. Maybe the way I chose to live is what always put me into troublesome situations. October 22, 1992 was the day that I was forced to start a new beginning. I was playing at a friend's house near my own. Since we were bored, I said to my friend, "Why don't we do your dad a favor and rake the leaves in your yard?" We raked the leaves near a platform in his backyard. The platform consisted of stacked up cinder blocks with boards lying freely on top. The platform stood no higher than five feet. When we were done, we decided to jump off the platform into the leaves. I told my friend to pretend like he was shooting me, and I'd fall back. As I walked to the edge of the platform, one of the boards I was standing on began to tip, throwing me head first into the leaves. I remember falling; everything seemed like slow motion as I fell. Once I hit the ground, I heard the board fall in the background. Once I had landed in the pile of leaves, I broke my neck, completely paralyzing me from the neck down. At this point, I did not notice that there was anything wrong with me, until I tried to stand up and couldn't. This is when I began to panic. I then tried to tell my friend that I needed help. However, nothing came out. The fracture of my spinal cord had cut off the signals from my brain, telling my body to move and breathe. That fall changed my life because from that moment on, I would spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair.
My friend thought I was kidding. He jumped off the platform and rolled me out of the leaves. I was not really scared, but just really confused. The thing that came to mind was my friend needed to get help for me. Only thing I could do was mouth, "Go get your sister." He realized what I was trying to say and ran to get his sister. I remember lying on my back staring at the sky. I can still feel the cold damp ground on the back of my neck. I can still see looking at the sky through the bare trees in his yard. I just started thinking what was happening, is this a nightmare?
Probably two minute after the fall I passed out due to a lack of oxygen. By the time his sister got to me she had noticed I was in bad shape. She told my friend to call my house to inform my family. They had just sat down to dinner when the phone rang. My sister Maria answered the phone and was told the news. My sister told my family, "Tony got hurt." My Dad told my sister to go get me.
