The Person Who Changed My Life
Written by: Jeffery Mestre
I first met William* in the summer of 2006 at Massachusetts Hospital School (MHS) in Canton, Massachusetts. I was there because my mother was an employee of their summer program. As she introduced me to the different handicapped children of her group, she introduced me to William and told me that he was12 years old, which was only one year younger than I was. I said hello and he just looked at me. I noticed that William always remained still in his wheelchair, but I didn’t think much about him, and I had no idea how much he was going to affect my life.
Later that year I experienced my first true meeting with William. It was Christmas Eve and my mother asked me if I would mind spending part of my Christmas morning with William. She informed me that William was one of the few kids who lived on campus 365 days a year. When William was 9 his enzyme deficiency caused him to lose the ability to walk and talk. His illness will eventually be terminal. William already has to eat by feeding tube into his stomach and he has to have daily lung treatments in a machine that helps remove mucus from the lungs. Unless he was having a medical treatment done he spent most of his time alone on his room, or parked in his chair in front nurses’ station. I told my mother that it sounded like a god idea to visit and we went to buy William a present.
When Christmas morning came, we drove to MHS and got there at 10 am. We were strangers to the nurses there, and they were a bit hesitant about letting us visit William. After they let us in, I walked into William’s room. The room was completely dark, and his mother was asleep on the couch. William was wide wake and when he saw us, his face of boredom turned into a smile. We took him out of his room and brought him into the playroom. I gave him my gifts, a DVD of “Toy Story” and a winter hat and gloves, and we unwrapped his other presents. We hung out the whole morning as we watched his new movies. Although William wasn’t able to thank me, his smiles throughout the morning showed me his appreciation.
After that day, I wanted to visit him more often because he seemed like the only student there who didn’t have anybody his age to spend time with him. His mother could only come to visit once a month. When I wanted to go back, the nurses’ said I had to become a volunteer. I did all the paperwork, the interview, and the training. ( . . . ) I brought video games. I help him play by putting the controller in his right hand. I sit on the right side and I put my hands around William’s on the controllers. His thumbs are too small so I use mine. He watches the screen and he gets tense and nervous when the game is close. When we win, his eyes open up wider and I know he’s excited.
Over the months, the nurses trusted me to take William for walks around campus in his wheelchair. We would walk to the campus track, to get some fresh air. During the beginning of my junior year of high school, I began to volunteer after school Tuesday and Thursday to swim with William. Swimming helped William stretch his body, and provided him with some of the physical therapy that he was not receiving.
People sometime ask me how I talk to William since he is non-verbal. William’s eyes are what allow him to respond and I can see it in his eyes that he is listening. I found out that when responding to questions, William’s slow motions blinks mean, “yes”, and if he doesn’t blink, he means “no”. After discovering that, my conversation with William became a lot easier; I talked to him as if he was anyone else. One day I was reading a book (Arthur’s Pet Business) to William, and noticed that his eyes were following the words. So I started asking him if he could read. He blinked, and I asked him if he wanted to read on his own, he blinked again, so I put the book out in front of him and told him to blink when he wanted me to turn the page. It was truly an incredible experience for me, as I watched his eyes run through each sentence, and then watch as he turned his head slowly to look at the other page.
I started to visit William every other weekend; it then became holidays and every Saturday, and then it became every Saturday and Sunday and even vacations. My friendship with William grew every visit, to the point where I now view him as my brother.
William has become a big influence on how I now view life. Many people only think of themselves, they fight for things that aren’t truly necessary, and don’t think about what they already have. I used to be one of those people, until I met William, and saw how easy it can be to overlook things like having the ability to walk, eat and communicate. People always tell me that I’ve changed his life and that I’m a hero, but I think that he has given me more than I could ever give him. William has become my hero, and I will always cherish and remember the bond between us.
* I have changed my friend’s name to “William” to respect the privacy of his medical issues.
