PAY IT FORWARD
In a plastic box I made this collage kind of thing. That is a dried flower, a fake butterfly, the words are magnets, and the pink things are a CD case that I broke. The hands are drawn onto a white fabric.
When you come through this, not 'if' because you will, it is so important to pay it forward. Help other people and be more compassionate about others.
I have been doing community service and this whole experience has really changed my life. I now know what I want to do with my life -- I want to be a social worker for foster kids. It doesn't have to do with chronic pain or anything, but this experience has shown me that I really want to help people that need it.
I know how tough it is. I know how alone it can feel. I know how helpless it can be.
That's why I have started a foundation to raise money for those fighting chronic pain. My Teen Pain Help Foundation will be collecting money to donate to the people who saved not only my life, but the lives of so many others like me; the Whole Child Foundation.
To learn more about them, visit www.wholechildla.org.
To learn more about my Teen Pain Help Foundation, please visit www.teenpainhelp.org.
Every parent and family deserves peace of mind, every child deserves comfort, and every person deserves health.
Currently I'm developing an art show based on my experience with pain.
The first exhibition was at The Gallery at Ivey's Emporium in Alpine, Texas.
A special thanks to my biggest fan, and the most loyal person I know, my dad. I have never seen anyone step up to the plate the way he did and I am confident that I never will. He sets the bar so high when it comes to personal heroes and I owe everything I have today to him.