MikeTheWriter
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- Oct 7, 2014
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tl;dr Dont'a Hightower saved my life in an F-5 tornado and helped me live life normally despite my inability to write, to see or feel fingers, to do arithmatic and to tell left from right as my college roommate. He is playing in Super Bowl 49 this Sunday. My dream is to surprise him out their in AZ and say "Can you believe this!"
My old college roommate Dont'a Hightower plays LB for the NE Patriots. On 4/27/11 he grabbed me by the shoulder and neck and tucked me underneath a sink as an F-5 tornado almost killed us both. 364 days later on 4/26/2012 he took me to Radio City Music Hall at the NFL Draft where he was drafted by the NE Pats. I have supported the NE Pats ever since but I have struggled big time with PTSD.
To get through the PTSD I took up writing. This can be tough because I also live with Gerstmann Syndrome a rare brain disease that means I struggle to write because of dysgraphia, to perform arithmetic because of dyscalculia, to distinguish left from right because of left-right disorientation, and to see or to feel fingers because of finger agnosia. My visual spatial skills are in the lowest percentile so going to games even one as big as Super Bowl 49 isn't fun for me.What would be fun for me would be to surprise Dont'a out there in AZ just to see him and say man how cool is this! It has been a long road here.
To see my best-friend on Super Bowl week after all this we have lived through would be amazing. I have reached out to many places to see if I could write in exchange for anyone helping me but I have not had a response. I know people are busy. I am still hoping someone can help me surprise a friend.
I figured some proof would be needed:
Dont'a spoke about saving my life at his rookie press conference with the Pats 4/27/12
To get through Gerstmann Syndrome and PTSD I took up writing. On February 9th 2014 I released a book for Rare Disease Day. I didn't use the name of my three roommates who got drafted to NFL teams, the names of their NFL teams or the name of our college university in the book. I did this because I only wanted my book to be about living life with disease and because I didn't want to take away from other books about the Tuscaloosa tornado and the Alabama football team. On the books release Dont'a sent out this tweet about my book.
https://twitter.com/zeus30hightower/status/433086920974155776
My old college roommate Dont'a Hightower plays LB for the NE Patriots. On 4/27/11 he grabbed me by the shoulder and neck and tucked me underneath a sink as an F-5 tornado almost killed us both. 364 days later on 4/26/2012 he took me to Radio City Music Hall at the NFL Draft where he was drafted by the NE Pats. I have supported the NE Pats ever since but I have struggled big time with PTSD.
To get through the PTSD I took up writing. This can be tough because I also live with Gerstmann Syndrome a rare brain disease that means I struggle to write because of dysgraphia, to perform arithmetic because of dyscalculia, to distinguish left from right because of left-right disorientation, and to see or to feel fingers because of finger agnosia. My visual spatial skills are in the lowest percentile so going to games even one as big as Super Bowl 49 isn't fun for me.What would be fun for me would be to surprise Dont'a out there in AZ just to see him and say man how cool is this! It has been a long road here.
To see my best-friend on Super Bowl week after all this we have lived through would be amazing. I have reached out to many places to see if I could write in exchange for anyone helping me but I have not had a response. I know people are busy. I am still hoping someone can help me surprise a friend.
I figured some proof would be needed:
Dont'a spoke about saving my life at his rookie press conference with the Pats 4/27/12
To get through Gerstmann Syndrome and PTSD I took up writing. On February 9th 2014 I released a book for Rare Disease Day. I didn't use the name of my three roommates who got drafted to NFL teams, the names of their NFL teams or the name of our college university in the book. I did this because I only wanted my book to be about living life with disease and because I didn't want to take away from other books about the Tuscaloosa tornado and the Alabama football team. On the books release Dont'a sent out this tweet about my book.
https://twitter.com/zeus30hightower/status/433086920974155776
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