Joseph Anderson: A Tale of Resilience and Determination

This story is probably one of which the end is rather simple to guess- I do apologize. But before I get too far along in this story I am about to tell you, I want to ask just one thing. What if your life took a terrible, unexpected turn down a road of complete chaos-would you give up, or would you fight for what you knew in your heart you wanted more than mostly anything? In this story, you will read of a boy, who, despite many struggles leaves you sitting on the edge of your seat waiting to find out: Will he change his future by chasing his dreams and reaching his goals, or will he give up all because of the internal conflict he runs into on a daily basis?

Joseph Anderson was born on May 7, 1998. He was born to Adrienne and Charles Anderson.

He and his mother had just found a place of their own after residing with her parents since the death of Charles. New school, new friends- the whole works. Almost one semester down, and Joseph is hanging out with his friends after school, and they got in a terrible, head-on collision. Joseph and his friends are rushed to the hospital, and hours later, Joseph wakes up to hearing, “Mrs. Anderson, your son is paralyzed from the waist down.” In complete unbelief, Adrienne began to pace back and forth in the hospital room saying, “No, this can’t be real!” Joseph is speechless. Lying hopelessly on the bed, Joseph just closes his eyes.

Life completely changed for the Anderson family after the car accident. The worst of it is, everyone else who was in the car during the crash left with only a few minor scrapes and bruises. Joseph’s whole world was turned upside down. About three weeks later, Joseph got to come home, but he needed a nurse to come to his house everyday to care for him.

This is where it all began. Her name was Jocelyn. Jocelyn Mitchell. She was 19 years old, and she wasn’t tall, neither was she short. She had orangish hair and bright brown eyes. No, it wasn’t love at first sight. Believe it or not, it was actually

He was always angry, in fact, he never really felt happy inside. The first day of being back home, Jocelyn walked in and said, “Hi Joseph, how are you?”, he angrily answered, “I don’t want you here, go away!” Jocelyn felt so discouraged, and despite her want to just give it all up, she kept going.

The shock wore off with time, from his paralyzation, and Joseph wasn’t as hateful towards his mom and Jocelyn. He still couldn’t accept that he could do almost nothing without the help of someone else and he and Jocelyn became friends, and as the days passed, they became closer. What used to seem like dreaded tasks, now seemed more like teamwork. It wasn’t always fun, sometimes they got into arguments, but somehow they always ended up making one another laugh.

It was a crisp October morning, and Jocelyn had just arrived at the Anderson’s home to find Adrienne screaming for help. Racing over, Jocelyn began to dig through her bag and grab her cell phone. She called 9-1-1, and the ambulance came shortly after. Joseph was gasping for air and his eyes were rolled back into his head. Jocelyn had no idea what to do to keep him alive, and all over her face was utter panic. It was like she couldn’t remember