The Pushing Life of Jeremy Duong
I’m Jeremy, a son, middle child of one older brother and one younger sister. I was born with “amniotic band syndrome.” They actually gave my mom a choice to abort me or continue the pregnancy, so my mom continued but she went through so much to have me. Being stuck with amniotic band syndrome that forever I had surgery 5 times and my leg amputated it was a struggle for me.
For example, learning how to do normal stuff that regular people can do was a challenge for me, I still had to learn how to walk, run, go up and down stairs, swim, do all that with a prosthesis leg. Having support from my family such as my mom Velia, my dad Hoang, my older brother Henry, and my younger sister Sierra gave me enough strength to give me that push I need in order for me to move on my own. Once later I was in therapy they also helped me with my disability. I also had help from my grandparents, and from Aunts they put in enough effort to help me stand on my own.
As I got older I always wondered if my prosthesis leg going to get in the way of doing something I always wanted to do. My mom was my main support plus my best friends. My mom will tell me “can’t” is not in your vocabulary and she was right. Later I learned how to swim to be honest it was not that much of a struggle for me as it is for other kids. As I became age of eighteen I have to pay for my own prosthesis, which means I need good medical insurance the cost is more than $10,000. It hurts to see other kids going through terrible medical conditions probably worse than mine and cannot do much about it. I learned how to become a better person cause of my medical condition.
My mom thought I was not going to be able to do anything, but that was when she was wrong nothing will stop me from doing things I love. Shockingly my stories has hit news, schools I went to, and my story made it in the Star Telegram. Surely I do have a terrible condition I have to live forever with, but hopefully changing my friends lives cause of what I can do in general…hopefully others with rare medical conditions can do the same.
