April Otwell
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Ability Expo

8/31/2015

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August 29, 2015

Today I attended the Ability Expo in Kansas City, which if you don't already know I live three hours away. I had a really good time (besides having to get up at 6:30.) we got to get out of the house which is always a good thing. There were so many cool things going on in one building. There were skateboarders, adaptive sports, wheelchairs, food, artwork made by artist with disabilities, yoga, tennis, basketball, rugby and my favorite Ms. Wheelchair Kansas. 

I was able to get some information about starting up Ms. Wheelchair Missouri again which ended back in 2012. I met Carrie Sunday whom holds the title for 2015 Ms. Wheelchair Kansas with her little girl. She was beautiful and the first thing that caught my eye was the crown on her head, so sparkly and shiny. Her little girl just loved seeing Bonnie and James Bond. The light in her eyes just brightened up to see the baby. Carrie was injured in 2007 in a car wreck that broke C5 and C6. She's able to transfer herself in and out of her wheelchair. She was able to give her her state coordinator so that I could ask questions about starting up Missour's Ms. Wheelchair. I'm hoping by Wednesday to have most of the information I'm needing to be able to do this. This is the most excited about something I've been in a very long while, like years really. 

While we were on our way back we stopped in Lamar to see the historic square to find that a fair was going on. We decided to stay and enjoy ourselves. We ate junk food, walked around looking at different vendor booths and even played some games. Mom won me a monkey in a banana that has a hat and dreadlocks, and a purple sock monkey. I played the cork gun very well for someone who has not used a gun in about 13 years! I won myself a neon yellow skunk that I'm calling a sugar glider. We saw horses and all kinds of different rides. It's too bad I couldn't ride because there were some of them that looked awesome! We stayed for about three hours before starting back home. We didn't get home till way late so I'm sorry for such a late blog about it. 

-A

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Last week

8/28/2015

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The last week has been crazy! English is taking up most of my time but I'm spending more time with my gliders too. Right now actually I have Bonita in my dress sleeping away. I'm applying to Southern Missouri State University for the spring 2016 semester so that I can go to a physical college. I might even make some friends too. I'm really excited about that but I have a while to go till then. It's going to be a great thing for me because as many of you know I have not been to a physical school since I was a junior in high school about four years ago. It's going to get me out of the house more and that should be a good thing. 

We have sent out our papers to become USDA license breeders. I can't wait! It's going to finally feel like we are moving forward and not backwards. For the last two years it seems like that's all we have done is go backwards. It's so time to move forward to get on with our lives and to actually have a life. I'm ready for it to come. I welcome it. 


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First Day of College

8/15/2015

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Today I started my English composition course and I have to say it was not too bad. I figured it would take me a lot longer than it did to finish my first day. I have been looking into going to a physical college however all of the deadlines for this year have been met so therefore I will have to wait until January to start going. It's been a weird day however I am ready to tilt back and just watch TV for a little while. I'm going to be watching Buffy the vampire slayer and for the rest of the night and hopefully tomorrow I will get two more lessons done so I can start keeping up with everything like my planne tells me too. When I say planner I mean the app that tells me what's to do that day and if I'm on track.

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Prayers For Luke

8/7/2015

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Hey guys!

So Sunday was a great day! I was able to travel 77 miles to Springfield to meet with April Garrett and Shawna Cunninngham. They are related to 18-year old Luke that in May had an auto accident where the truck flipped six times and he was ejected from the vehicle. He broke C5-C6, torn arota, crushed his face, ribs, lungs, pelvic bone, had a bleed in the brain, and even more injuries. He has been in the Springfield hospital but the end of this week he will be moved to the St. Louis hospital where he will be treated for his jaw and begin therapy. 

His family was told that there was no need to repair his injuries because he would not make it. They gave him a week to live and when he made it that long they gave him a little ore time. Now it's been three months and all they have done is put a cage around his C5-C6 injury. Now his jaws has healed wrong so they will have to go back in and rebreak the bones to set them. He was on a ventilator for a while but now he's completely off of it! He's gotten decent shoulder muscles and even some wrist movement back already. At my three month period I was only at moving my arms, one finger and possibly some slight wrist movement. It's odd because I was always told that my functions had came in backwards. 

I had a blast meeting his family and I hope to do it again real sure. Prayers for Luke's Facebook

We sat and talked about four hours straight! It was surprising that only one to truly cry was my mom though Shawna started to when we introduced our-self. I am very glad that I will now have other people besides my mom to talk to about the tough stuff I cannot talk to my mom about. It's just nice to have someone in a similar situation to relate too. I would not wish a spinal cord injury on anyone much less their family's. I could relate to April a lot, she's only nine years older than I am and we have similar taste. She's a photographer which is one thing that I want to learn to do! I told her maybe one day when we were up there I could be her Barbie doll for the day and she could take some photos. I think that would be a good time for both of us. I'm trying to become a model  but I haven't been able to reach any photography places near me to start building my portfolio. 

So much has been going on I've had just a million things going though my brain. I need to shut it off every once and a while it might help me get one thing finished before another idea pops into my brain. I've write a lot compared to my usual post but anyway. Please say a prayer for me, Luke and his family!

-A



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New Computer

8/1/2015

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So I got my new computer in a few days ago and let me tell you I'm so excited to get it set up so I can start school and do my book! I've been trying to transfer everything over to it so I can put away my old Mac till I either get it fixed or get a new one. I have my 1tb external hard drive that's for macs only so now I have to get a new one to put all my stuff on to use it on my windows computer. So hopefully in a few days I can get it up and going to start redoing my website and blogging more on subjects related to spinal cord injuries. So for now loves I am off

-A

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Zoey and Romeo
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    Author

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    Paralyzed from the neck down after an ATV rollover at 14, April Otwell is beating the odds the doctors gave her. She's a blogger, fantasy writer, college student, sugar glider guardian and spinal cord injury survivor.  She's even writing her first fiction novel!

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