I was born with club feet, deaf in both ears, and borderline retardation. My dad died of tuberculosis (TB) about the time that I was born. And later the social service agency came to take the children away from my mom because they said she had TB too, but she did not have it. Social service agency took me to residential school first, only to be rejected by the residential school, because of my deficits. So I was made ward of the courts and then placed in the foster care system. The last foster home that I was put in was the Williams when I was five years old. I learned to read lips, and I remember there were a lot of yelling and hitting going on. But I rather remember the good things like operations on my feet and ears, and the Williams taking me fishing on weekends.

Doctors were not guaranteeing that I would walk or hear after having series of operations on my feet and ears. When I had operations on my feet, I was in such horrific pain, I remember an angel coming every night to hold