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What’s Wrong With Me?
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By: Krystina | #WheelStrong What’s wrong with me? Ever since I was little, I’ve always felt like a burden.Unwanted.An inconvenience. They say we carry our ways of thinking into adulthood….and I know that’s true.Especially after becoming disabled. At just 9 years old, I was writing poems soaked in sadness.Lines like:…
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Mother’s Day, No Matter What.
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By: Krystina | #WheelStrong Even though my Mother’s Day started with no electricity, a freezing cold shower, and a bed stuck in a permanent “U” shape (the only way I can sleep these days)… I’ve never been more grateful to be alive. This morning, I woke up to my daughter…
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When Numb Becomes Your Survival Language
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“I wish you would open up, Krystina.” I hear it a lot.From family. From friends. From strangers who follow my story online.But what they don’t understand is…this guard I carry wasn’t built…it grew. It grew from everything I’ve survived.It’s not a wall I consciously put up.It’s muscle memory.It’s my default…
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It Wasn’t the Accident That Broke Me
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When I tell people what happened to me,I always pause when I see the look on their face. That wide-eyed shock.That “Oh my God, I’m so sorry.”The disbelief.The pity. But what they don’t know….what they could never guess….is that the most traumatizing part of my storydidn’t happen in the car.Or…
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The Wall I Built to Survive…
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I Have a Bad Habit I push emotions aside.I bury words that need to be spoken.I shut down and shut people out.I become an emotionless robot, powering through pain, emotional or physical, to get things done.The irony? I always tell my kids, “Talk about how you feel. Don’t hold it…
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Shics Healthcare? More Like Shits Healthcare!
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Don’t get high off the false hope management tries to sell you.Because if you do, you’ll miss the glaring red flags waving like a damn parade. When I was first contacted by a man named Steven from Shics Healthcare, I was sold a dream.White picket fence, compassionate care, the works.…
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Wearing My Tragedy Like a Clunky Watch
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If I’m being honest…I’m exhausted. I wouldn’t wish this condition on anyone.Not because I don’t have strength… but because this kind of strength shouldn’t have to exist.The loneliness that comes with it is overwhelming.And the truth? Talking about it makes people uncomfortable. But not talking about it?That’s what almost broke…
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I’m tired.
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I’m tired. Tired of being underestimated.Tired of being belittled.Tired of being left out of plans like I don’t exist…simply because I’m disabled.I’m tired of being treated like less than. As a quadriplegic with little to no help, I’ve still managed to accomplish so much.And yet… people only see the chair.Or…