Editor’s note: The Aspen Times, in conjunction with Valley Life for All, continues a monthly series of profiles about people in our community who have different abilities. Twenty-seven percent of Americans experience some disability. One hundred percent are a part of our community. Each has a story.<\/p>\n
Meet Josh: He loves to ski. He is a mountain boy at heart. He lived with the effects of type 1 diabetes that led to severe physical complications and isolation until a double-organ transplant. His journey has been insightful and powerful. He helps others with the hurdles and challenges of life.<\/p>\n
Read Josh’s story. His voice will change you:<\/p>\n
When I was 3 years old, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, hereditary. But that didn’t prevent me from living a normal childhood, growing up and being active. So, over the course of my life, I dealt with diabetes pretty normally: took shots, I watched what I ate, so on and so forth. But it did catch up to me in that it affected other parts of my body: my vision and also my internal organs.<\/p>\n
I started noticing differences in my body. I wasn’t taking off the fluids properly. My kidneys were not working, they were actually failing. I checked myself into the hospital, and the doctor immediately sent me to Denver. From there on, my life changed forever. The doctor said I had to go on dialysis. I wasn’t really prepared for that. I don’t think you really can be. So I was put on peritoneal dialysis, which is dialysis at least 12 hours a day every day until the doctor said I had to get a transplant.<\/p>\n
I had a machine by my bed that pumped dextrose into my body, and the dextrose would sit for a while and then I would empty out the dextrose and it would take off all the extra stuff my kidneys normally would. I did that for almost three years. I couldn’t work. I wasn’t very active. I guess I was technically “disabled.” So, with that, it really opened my eyes to a lot of things. My doctor suggested a double organ transplant \u2014 a kidney and a pancreas. I was on the transplant waiting list for almost three years, all the while doing dialysis at home.<\/p>\n
Finally, on Dec. 25, 2015, I was called into the hospital down in Denver and the nurse said, “Are you ready?” The surgery itself took about six hours. I began my new life afterwards.<\/p>\n
But all the while, you know, people would tell you what to mark on sheets because you were not living physically normal. I would mark the sheets disabled, which was foreign to me. I didn’t really know how to respond to that.<\/p>\n
Being disabled didn’t really click in my mind until recently when I gained a bigger appreciation of what it meant to be disabled but also be able to do certain things. So that is kind of my story. It has been a long journey, it has been very insightful, very powerful. Here I am today. I’m no longer on dialysis.<\/p>\n
I am no longer a type 1 diabetic. And today I do what I can to help others who are disabled get through life and all its hurdles and challenges.<\/p>\n
Local nonprofit Valley Life for All is working to build inclusive communities where people of all abilities belong and contribute. We want to hear your voice. Request a training or join the conversation at http:\/\/www.valleylifeforall.org<\/a> or #voicability4all. Help us redefine the perception of challenge.<\/p>\n