Normally not normal. - Andrew Rodebaugh

        I usually don’t like talking about my Heart Disease. Even at an early age, you know that some people may define you by it. People defined me as fragile because, of my heart disease. I understand the concern fully, but when you think that you know everything after being told, or you make up, based off of what you think you know, about a kid with a heart defect, that is not always the best answer.

        Okay sorry, you may be confused. Let me give you some background as to what I am trying to say.

        My parents were worried about me going to first grade, even though I was put in a different class than my older brother, was going where he was bullied by the teacher because of his Autism. In the first grade, no one really knew that I had a heart defect. I could do about anything I wanted to do, and  was treated like a regular first grader. They knew that I went to the doctors a lot, but they never really questioned why I did.

        Going to Second grade was great, until I found out that year that I had to get a Cardiac Catheterization. It sounds like a big scary procedure, but it actually is not that. They put something in your heart, and do tests with that device in it to make sure no future problems will arise. If so, they could stop it before it happens. Well, my class was told that I had to have a surgery and that they should pray for me. Which is great, minus the fact that it’s not technically a surgery. The teacher had to explain what my heart defect is.

        Of course, because they were second graders, they think they know everything. The teachers had the same mindset. They apparently  still had a second grade mind that thought the same thing. I am not trying to say they where bad teachers, I mean, I still talk to them at church, but they did what every person would think that. They wanted to protect me, because it is their job. They ended up being overprotective.

 What I mean by that is I could not participate in numerous activities. hey made me   do beginners math, and gave me Fs on it.  I had a stroke, so my memory is bad. The work requires you to memorize times tables. My mom once asked me to have open book, but of course I could not because it would not be fair to the other students.

        t was not fair for me to be in those situations! It was not fair for me to have a stroke! It was not fair for me to have a heart defect! Going back to my first paragraph, education is made to teach and what it should be able to do is make people be able to work how they learned. If I did not become home schooled later on, it could have ruined my life because I was not fairly educated. That school seemed to work for everyone but me, and that broke me down and made me feel like I could not do anything. That I was just a mistake.

        It felt like everyone was against me. I was never picked for games because I was too slow.They were legitimately worried about me! Even though I knew at that time when I was pushing myself too much and when I needed a break.

I mean I should feel lucky I even got to go to school. My heart condition is the most dangerous that you can be born with. Most people do not make it past age 5! I’m tall, which is rare for any person with any heart defect. I do not have to live in a hospital. And heck, a hospital that is one of the best hospitals in the world is 30 minutes from my house! But the stories I hear that have happen to people with defects. Every day,people don’t have the opportunity to be homeschooled, because of how they are treated. They  have to take a lot of medications, when I only have to take a couple, and do not have to bring them to school.

What I am saying is that you should never stop a person from enjoying life. It doesn’t matter who that person is, and what their story is. Also, you should treat them like everyone else, but understand that they may have difficulties. You should also give them help so they can learn which is what schooling should be about.