Encouragement: Patrick Henry - Achieving Acceptance Is Not Always Easy, But Well Worth the Obstacles

Hello everyone~

As promised, here is the next installment of my review on Patrick Henry's book I Am Potential; Last week, I explored the role of Patrick Henry's mother in attempting to create a bridge of understanding towards his disability. This wasn't always easy as evident by my last Patrick Henry as well as my own relating my recent personal experiences. But there are always two sides to every story. Today, I'm going to focus on the majority of people who do understand that a disability in no way makes you less of a person.

The Louisville marching band, the "Extreme makeover" cast and crew are among the majority of people that make Patrick Henry feel accepted and loved"These people get it; they understand I'm more like them than I am different from them... I thrive on acceptance and being thought of as a valuable human being and not someone to be pitied." He said.

How should you approach someone that's different than you?

Here is Patrick Henry's response:

"Go in the opposite direction and look for all the ways the person is just like you!"

That doesn't mean the road to acceptance is the easy one; it is not.. Especially when you've been devastated by the news that life didn't turn out like you planned. This is when you have to put away the dreams you once had for yourself and a loved one, creating new ones (more achievable) for the person.

This takes time. As evident by John Henry's journey.

"From the earliest months of Patrick Henry's life, I didn't fully grasp the many challenges we'd have to face as parents; Patricia, on the other hand, knew the depth of our situation right from the start.. she also knew that for the most part she'd be doing this alone or at best, dragging me along for the ride!" John Henry says.

After all, what could be done to help this situation?

So for a while, Patrick's father continued with his daily routine of work and men's outings. Through it all, Patricia understood.. Giving him credit even when he didn't deserve it. Occasionally, though, there were times of great bonding between father and son; these quiet times consisted of simply napping together with Patrick on his chest.

The Perspective Of Outsiders: A Mother's struggle to shed light on her Son's. (Patrick Henry) disability..

Hello Everyone,

I know it's been a while since we last visited the Patrick Henry book review, but I'm ready to work through my difficulties and push forward. Granted, I'm not feeling my best; but you'll get the information and it will be helpful no matter what I'm going through. You didn't come here for me anyway, you came to hear my message.

On a side note, I recently watched a movie on HBO called Julie and Julia. It's a movie based on the book by Julie Powell who uses Julia Child's famous cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" to spice up her daily routine. To commemorate her journey, she allows readers to follow her adventures by writing a blog. This is where it got interesting; some people criticized her for the blog, saying it was "self-indulgent and self centered" I am bringing this up because I want my readers to know that this blog is for them and if I ever get that way to please warn me. In some ways, her friends were right a blog is often focused on one person's feelings and opinions, but that's only if you choose to make it that way. A blog can be helpful as well. For example, I feature many on my side bar that keep their readers as well as their overall purpose in mind (informing people about disabilities).


As I said, today we will be continuing my review of the Patrick Henry book, "I Am Potential". When we last left the book, we were revealing Mrs. Hughes take on her son's disability. As with most mothers, Ms. Hughes was the driving force behind the family- researching her son's disability, searching for solutions to problems and giving him the best education possible.
But there's one perspective we don't like to talk about much- The perspective of the outsiders (a.k.a. the Uneducated [I'm talking about a disability here, nothing else! ]) This includes people who continue to look down on a person with a disability with feelings of pity or disgust. True, it's a part of life; but something no one can ever get used..

Especially mothers.

Because they know their child better than anyone could.

One day, though, it all got to be too much and she found herself crying.

"You know what? I'm strong. I'm facing challenges people can't even imagine and I'm coping ... I am handling it! Maybe my son isn't progressing as much as the other childrens and maybe maybe he won't be a star athlete or great brain surgeon someday.Maybe he'll never even reach the lofty perch of being average; but I'll tell you this, he'll be everything he's able to be,"

Like many parents, Patrick's mom believed that anything was possible as long as you put your mind to it. Self-pity was useless and it only brought you down.

Yes, Patrick Henry was anything but typical. But who was? Everyone has their own problems to deal with; they were just honored to be able to concentrate on Patrick and his "small victories"

Encouragement: Patrick Henry- more on "Be the Person Your Mom Would Be Proud of".

Well,


It's that time again. Here is the continuation of my book review of I Am Potential. My dad got the files back in order again tomorrow. Although I can't imagine how they got rearranged in the first place. Below is some of the important information I gathered from the book. It pertains to how Patrick Henry first adjusted to reading using Braille and the continuation of the principle, "Be The Person Your Mom Would Be Proud of.


A Different Kind of Learning
Growing up with a disability never was an issue for Patrick Henry. That is, until the subject of reading came along; he didn't understand the purpose for it... After all, he couldn't see! What did it matter if he could read or write? Soon, learning Braille became a family affair. At first, the family used the Grade 1 system, learning all twenty-six letters of the alphabet in Braille and then connecting them to make words.


This system was very time-consuming and soon the family moved on to Grade 2 Braille. In this system, the idea of letters was still in place but contractions were also used in place of some words. In total, there are about 250 contractions in this system. Contractions were a combination of dots and dashes that formed complete words.

After a while, though, Patrick Henry surpassed his family in terms of learning Braille. Partly due to the help of his Braille Teacher in school, Ms. Nettie. But one thing remained to be seen, why was he learning to read if he couldn't see like all the others? It wasn't until Ms. Nettie came up with an association game. She made scratch and sniff flashcards with words. He would read the word in Braille on the card and then there would be a smell either of something associated to the word or an odor that starts with that letter. For example, if the word was "red" there might be a smell of a cherry on the card.


The Five Senses
As previously discussed, Patrick Henry loves to use his five senses to gain information about the world around him. But it wasn't always like this. As a child, he was "painfully" aware about the acuteness of his hearing. So bad he couldn't stand the song, "Happy Birthday" or the sound of applause. According to his parents, it was the audience's way of showing their appreciation for his music.

"Suddenly, that became a different matter entirely; I liked it and wanted more," Patrick says

Mom's Role

Although John (Patrick Henry's father) takes center stage in most of his son's activities, Patrick Henry says he wouldn't know what to do without his mom

"She took up my cause from day one," he says

Like most parents, the family wanted the best for him; but they weren't sure where to begin. Luckily, Patrick's mom found the VIPs (Visually Impaired Preschool Services). Before long, she was an expert in her son's disability- staying connected with the right specialists and doctors needed.

"The most impressive thing about mom is not just how much she accomplishes on any given day, but that you would never know that she was the one who did it," he says.

And at that time, research was more difficult. After all, there wasn't the capability of the Internet; countless hours were spent on the phone - contacting doctors and getting referrals.
Her ultimate goal: Making Patrick as independent as possible.

The rest of the Patrick Henry audio book review being postponed..

Okay,

So I don't know how it happened but my audio files of the I Am Potential book got mixed up and are not in order. It's going to take me a while to rearrange them. There were in order on my iTunes, but now they're scrambled. I can't figure it out. I must have accidentally pressed a button on my iTunes to sort them somehow. That being said, I will need some time to figure it out. I will still post things like news articles for encouragement. Please bear with me!

Another Lesson from Patrick Henry Hughes

Hey Everyone~



It's Friday again and as I look forward to this weekend I can't help but be amazed at how fast the time flies. Just yesterday, I was thinking about this while having dinner with my father. He's getting older as much as we both hate to admit it and it shows- in the little things such as the wrinkles of his hands and his "memory lapses". It scares me to think of a future without my parents because it's all I've ever known. I know I will have people that take care of me and support me, but nothing can ever take the place of your parental support. That brings me to the topic of this post; as promised, it is a continuation of Patrick Henry's book, "I Am Potential: Eight Lessons to Living, Loving, and Reaching Your Dreams." Ironically enough, the next lesson is this: Be the You Your Mother Would Be Proud of.

Being Different


What does it mean to be different? Growing up, Patrick Henry liked to feel things with his hands. He would notice small differences of how people's eyes would flutter when he touched them; unlike his own, which were hard and didn't move. His family treated him like everyone else, so Patrick just assumed everyone had to be carried around or fed. Eventually though, he began to wonder how his parents got from place to place.


"They must be able to do something I can't," he thought. From then on, he was even more determined to do everything to be "less" different and try to walk on his own. But to no avail, Patrick still got a wheelchair at the age of four. "Why do I need a wheelchair?" Patrick would often ask. His parents explained that God made him different, using that example of a box where God gives out different abilities to different people when they were born. He accepted this explanation.

For many people, acceptance of a disability can lead to many misunderstandings among the nondisabled community. After all, wouldn't we love to be able to walk or see? Of course we would. But here's the difference: "Some might think I don't care or that I'm hiding from reality," Patrick says, "I do care- very much. If God said to me, 'Patrick Henry, would you like to start walking today?'I'd immediately say yes. I believe most people in a wheelchair would love to be independent of their chair and live life completely on their own.. but nothing is accomplished by dwelling on what you can't do ! So you have to shrink its importance down in your mind .."


After a while, his grandparents became increasingly concerned that Patrick didn't know how to socialize with kids his own age. As a result, his parents tried getting him into daycare. Many of the centers wouldn't take him because of his disability.

That is, until his parents found the Wesley Community House. Like most parents, their first days proved difficult for parents and son alike. Eventually, though, some kids warmed up to Patrick listening as he played music on the electric keyboard. One day as he was playing, Patrick Henry was asked, "why are you blind?"

He replied he didn't.


His friend continued, "Because you were born that way."

This brings up such an important point.. Having a disability, many of us don't know what life would be like without one. We have nothing to compare it to.. Just as, Patrick is often asked "What do you see?" He can't tell you. As a result, he depends on his other senses such as touch and smell to create mental models of what he thinks something they look like.

When Patrick entered public school, his disability was a attention- grabber from the start; everyone wanted to push his wheelchair or read to him at story time. As time progressed, though,, he realized the source and felt differently.


".. I didn't want to be seen as so different," he says.


When he was mainstreamed, he had to have personal assistants. Patrick participated in every activity he could in the effort to be accepted by his peers. And he was. Despite all this, one quote stands out the most for me.. Patrick says, "but no matter what you do and however much people welcome you among them, the truth is, if you are special and you can never be exactly like everyone else.."


Eventually, he accepted this as well and started looking at his music talent in a different way. "This [my music] allowed me to be recognized for a different kind of special! The kind I wanted to be. Once I go it, I could let the other feelings go,"

Encouragement: Patrick Henry: A Closer Look At Passion

Hey Guys~

As I continue to read more about Patrick Henry and his life, I can't help but think him blessed more than most. Why? He knows what loves and has the gumption to stick with it; not many people do. But John Patrick Hughes says, "Sometimes it feels as if your passion has dried up and disappeared; when life seems to be just another day- up in the morning, stumbling through the routine, and falling into bed at night."

But not for his son. He still possesses a zest for life, uncommon in most adults. This "childlike enthusiasm" can be seen in every aspect of his life. I don't mean childlike in terms of youthful abandon or immediate gratification. This type of passion is different. "It's the passion we are born with and display when very young mass for, doing something because we love it and for no other reason," John Henry explains.

How is it possible to maintain this type of passion throughout your life?

I wish I had some long philosophical explanation for you; but it's quite simple. Patrick Henry values his time. While a majority of his time is spent coping with the realities of his disability, he doesn't allow that to cloud his perspective or the perspective of this family.

I don't know about you, but it seems to me that a lot of these lessons are a part of a common theme. That being said, I can't help but feel I am repeating myself over and over. As a result, I have decided to document exactly where I am in the audio book so I don't have to go looking for it over and over again.

Audio book disk 2 part 19

Encouragement: Patrick Henry- back on track

Hey Guys~



So I hope my last post on Patrick Henry helped my readers get back on track with my review of the book, I Am Potential. I realize it had been a while since I've posted on the book so I wanted to give a slight summary before I continued my analysis. For those of you that are new readers, you can always start at the beginning of my analysis by searching under "Patrick Henry" as a tag.



In my last review, we were exploring Patrick Henry's love for music. Not only did he have a talent for music, but this became an undeniable bond between father and son. Like I said, it was a love they both had and John Henry taught him everything he knew. Watching his son grow, however, he began to realize he didn't have the experience needed to take his son to the next level. So, his next teacher was Diane, a fellow blind person. Her blindness was never considered a disadvantage, but a advantage. That way Patrick was able to concentrate on the music rather than his technique.



At the age of 10, though, she suggested John Henry find someone new; she had done all she could for his son and couldn't wait to see what his future brought. Over the next few months, Patrick Henry struggled through his music lessons. As his father had predicted, the next teacher did his best to "correct" his skills, never taking into account the limitations of his disability. In the end, that teacher didn't work out leaving the Hughes family to wonder what was next for their son.



"Finding someone new wasn't easy and the search dragged on; then, as always when it's most important exactly the right thing happens," Patrick Henry says.

But God already had that figured out. As a youngster, Patrick and John often went to the mall and played on the more expensive pianos in the stores. He wanted to make sure that his son got the experience of playing on the real thing. During one of those visits, unbeknownst to them, a piano named Ms. Henda (I apologize if I've spelled the name incorrectly, I have never heard this name before) listened intently, saying that is she ever got the chance to teach such a talented young man, she would love to do so.

Years later, the two were back again searching for advice on where to find a new music teacher. Guess who was in the store- Ms. Henda. Immediately, she agreed to teach Patrick Henry, understanding the adaptions that needed to be made.

"Let's do what we have to do to get it done," Sure, the music wasn't exactly the same. But he enjoyed it just the same.

As their lessons progressed, she continued to be amazed at his accomplishments. She would give him tasks, assuming it would take a long time for him to learn; but he would be back the next time ready for more. He lived for the music, loved spending every waking moment at the piano.

I think his father puts it best when he says, "I think the litmus test for passion is how you react when your passion is taken from you,"

During times like his back surgery, he wasn't the same without his music or being able to play. But he came back stronger than ever

Patrick Henry, I am Potential a slight review

Welcome back~

OK, so I know it's been a while since my last installment of I Am Potential. When we last left
Patrick Henry, he had just undergone surgery for his scoliosis. As he began to recover, he was allowed to go outside on his swing when the unexpected happened.. and broke his leg. In the last post, we also examined how they "coped "with such circumstances. Continue with me as I attempt to summarize what I believe are the most important lessons that can be learned through Patrick Henry and his family. Here is a slight review:

Do What You Can To Change What You Can

"I have learned that when situations are challenging, you have to rise up, or there'll get you down and keep you there.. "Says Patrick. He uses the example of playing with his brothers, saying that he could have given up. But what good does that do? You never know what you are capable of until you try

As I examined earlier, it all comes down to one thing when faced with the decision to do something. Fear. Fear of failure or inability to step outside one's comfort zone. There's one problem with that though. "If you give in to that fear, you might never know how good things could be or the problem might get even worse if you choose to ignore it," he says.

It was the hope he had for a better future and life they kept him going despite his disability.

Pursue Your Passion As If You're Life Depends on It.

Someone once said, "There is only one passion; the passion for happiness." (Patrick credited the person as Dennis, but I was unable to understand the last name.) For Patrick, this passion has always been music.

Why?

Because music has the ability to transport him places beyond the limitations of his disability. He is able to "see" with his imagination what a moon looks like or feel as if he is walking on air. He is limitless and anything is possible.

"Music is my key to life; the more I play, the richer my life becomes," Patrick says. As we explored earlier, this talent for music was discovered purely by accident while his father was babysitting. It had an unusual calming impact for the blind child; but as he grew, the talent became more intense, being able to play notes just by hearing them.

"After a while, I think dad gave up trying to figure it all out and just accepted that God had given me a wonderful gift,". Patrick Henry says .

For father and son, the piano allowed for some bonding time. "It wasn't just the music; it was sharing something we both loved," he said. As with life, it wasn't always fun and games because Patrick often found himself frustrated when his father had to work.

"I didn't like it but you can't always have things just the way you want." This father and son music games continued until about the age of five. At that point, John Henry knew he wasn't able to give him the experience he needed. The next teacher was Diana and like Patrick Henry, she was also blind.

Encouragement: Patrick Henry part three

Hello Again~

In reality, this will be my fourth post about Patrick Henry and his book. But my third installment using his book as my topic of "Encouragement". For those of you that have been following, Patrick Henry has explored why we should be grateful in whatever circumstance we are in, do what we can to change what we can, and their definition of "coping". In the next chapters, we will continue to learn about his take on pursuing your passion no matter what it takes.

Patrick Henry has never felt left out when it comes to playing sports like his brothers. He understands that everyone has their talents and should use them. For him, music is his passion. "Music is my key to life. The more I play, the richer my life becomes," Patrick says. Playing music allows him to interact with a world he hasn't seen, as well as transcend the limits of his disability.

A talent developed purely by accident..

As a young father, John Henry remembers the struggle he often had dealing with his firstborn son on his own. It wasn't until his father playing music on the piano that the baby would quiet down. Looking back, he realizes that his own love for music was more than just a way to put himself in the spotlight, but prepared him for this special role with his son. "Preparation to help me raise a special child, a child who would be limited in many ways, except when it came to music.".

Miraculously, at a young age, Patrick Henry was able to find notes simply by hearing them. "After a while, I think dad gave up trying to figure it all out and just accepted that God had given me a wonderful gift," he says. At two years old, he was able to play simple melodies and harmonies along with his father on violin

"This was our our baseball pitch and catch, a father and son enjoying each other. We would never play football, go golfing, or do any of the other sports I have longed for. But that was okay because God had another plan- a bigger and better version of anything I could have imagined," . John Henry says

I Am Potential: The Family's Views On Coping With the Difficulties In Life

Welcome back~

As I gear up for my vacation, I am trying to catch up with my posts for the week. I kept putting off posting because I didn't have anything newsworthy to mention for Monday and I hoped something would become available for my disability Google alerts. But it hasn't happened yet and I am running out of time. As a result, I am posting two discussions on Patrick Henry' book, I Am Potential. The first, continuing his book review with a primary focus on what it means to cope with a situation. According to Webster.com, coping as defined as "to deal with and attempt to overcome difficulties". But as I have learned from the Hughes family, coping is not necessarily overcoming the problem as much as it is "working through" it.

Or in Patrick Henry's words, "I have learned that when situations are challenging, you have to rise up and keep going, or there'll get you down ." He believes that many of the people he has met feels stuck where they are. These feelings sometimes stem from a fear of failure or getting out of one's comfort zone. "If you give in to that fear, you might never know how good things could be or the problem might get even worse if you choose to ignore it."

Like many parents, John Hughes and family never really can say they've got it all under control. After all, when you figure out the solution to something, another problem usually rears its ugly head. "So just when you think you've got the big challenges under control, something else props up to prevent your complete sigh of relief.. all of these things make coping anything but easy. But you have to always to moving ahead with the belief everything won't get better without you doing everything possible to make it so..."

In these circumstances, the Hughes family was never alone- even when they thought they were. John Henry reminds us, "God is there, waiting for an invitation to intercede. It may not come when you think it should or in the form you have requested, but exactly what is needed always arrives at exactly the right time."

Encouragement: Patrick Henry, part two

Welcome back~

First off, I would like to begin this post with a message of thanks. Because of my busy life these days, I don't always have the time to look at my blog and reply to the comments I have received. But what I do have the chance, these comments give me hope and a reason to keep writing. So, loyal readers, thank you from the bottom of my heart. No matter whether we are strangers or friends, you are all a part of my life now. Thank you.

I figured since I started the Patrick Henry book review on Wednesday; I may as well continue it as part of the Wednesday series. After all, he is a source of encouragement after what he's been through. My last post about Patrick Henry takes us to chapter 2. This chapter begins with two appropriate quotes about change and acceptance. They are: "Do all you can to change what you can" and"God helps those who help themselves". This was something that Hughes family tried to live by during the first couple years of Patrick's life. During that time, Patrick Henry endured several surgeries: many were in a effort to improve the appearance of his "eyes". Born without eyes, the sockets had not formed properly, so if he was ever going to get some cosmetically, the muscles had to be stretched over and over again. During each surgery, the diameter of the sphere would be increased, so that eventually an ""eyes" could be inserted.

The first surgery for his eyes went according to plan; but the family was tested when they encountered complications during the second surgery to increase the size of the spheres. Patrick encountered an infection and wasn't able to eat for several days. His parents became worried. Was this how things were going to be from now on? Their happy-go-lucky son had disappeared and this was what they were left with. It wasn't fair. John Henry's response: "I knew that in the grand scheme of things we're never promised life is going to be fair, but this was going to far. At that moment, the comparison of what life had been like with Patrick Henry to what it might be was devastating.." While trying to eat at a family restaurant, everything changed though. Patrick Henry smiled and began to eat. "It was as if he had been lost in the desert and couldn't get enough of anything," he explained. Their son was back. If this had been God's way of making sure the Hughes family remained thankful for everything they had, let it be.

"It was a valuable lesson and reinforced how abundantly blessed we were to have Patrick Henry in our lives.. he [Patrick] had been the center of our universe and when that was taken away, a black hole had opened up.." John continued.

As well as his "eyes", the Hughes family did whatever they could to improve Patrick's arms and legs. This included arm splints and surgeries. It was later determined however that nothing could be done because their son have little to none growth in his legs. Like the rest of his body, it had not formed properly, leaving the necessary bone structures to walk.

His last surgery was at the tender age of 10. This time, it was for the scoliosis in his back. Not only would this surgery correct his back problems, but it would also add a couple of inches to his stature. This excited Patrick because he would finally be able to accomplish a lifelong dream- riding on a roller coaster

Patrick's back surgery was a success and recovery went swiftly despite an accident leaving one leg broken and in a cast.

Stay tuned as I continue to summarize the miraculous story of this young man and his family

Encouragement: Patrick Henry story part one

Okay,

So it occurred to me today that I had promised my readers my review of Patrick Henry's new book, I Am Potential: Eight Lessons in living, loving and reaching your dream. I apologize for my tardiness in posting on this topic, but I was hoping for new developments in terms of disability related news. As this did not seem to be happening, I figured this would be as good a time as any. Many of you may remember me talking about Patrick Henry in a variety of blog posts. This amazing young man had overcome so much and done his best to live a life without limits, inspiring millions of people in the process. Born with a variety of disabilities ranging from limited use of his arms to life without sight, the lessons he can teach people are remarkable.



He begins the book with the most important lesson one could learn throughout his experiences of having a disability. That lesson: Acceptance. Not only for himself, but for his parents as well. Or as Patrick puts it, "When life hands you lemons, accept them and be grateful." At first glance, this may seem like an unspoken lesson for the Hughes family, but it wasn't always that way . John had always dreamt of a son who could spend hours with him playing catch, but that wasn't possible with Patrick. They had go of such dreams and hope for the best. After all, "You can't move forward until you accept where you are," Patrick says.


In the face of such adversity, one wonders if things would have been different had they known about Patrick Henry's disabilities. Of course, abortion wasn't an option for them; but would they have handled it differently had they known? Patrick Henry answers the question with something his mom always said, "It's another example of how the best blessings could be right in front of you but you don't see them because you forget that God is always there working things out behind the scenes,"



We've all heard these things before: "God never gives you more than you can handle" and "you have to move on and accept what is ". These are just some of the many pieces of advice that the Hughes family received.

Instead of denying the reality of the situation, they coped and adapted to their new life as a family. John's philosophy was: "If this was a, so be it. We'll survive; no, we'd do more than that . We'll do all we can to make the situation better. I felt that in my heart but I truly had no idea of the magnitude of our challenges.."

After all, what does wishing do? It gets us no where.

Stay tuned for more inspiring quotes from the book in later posts. I apologize if everything seems disconnected, but I am trying to bring you what I thought was most important.

Sneak peek

So,

This week my readers may be in for a few surprises. Many of you may remember me mentioning a guest post by my father. This will certainly be a interesting experience for me, to see my disability through another person's eyes besides my own. I will be honest, I don't know exactly what he is planning to say but I know it will be something to look forward to. But first, I wanted to let you know what I'm planning for this blog and a near future. In past posts, I featured a young man who displayed his blindness, manages to inspire millions with his music and unbreakable spirit.

Well, he's done it again. This time, he is telling his story in his new autobiography entitled I Am Potential. I recently bought the audio book from the bookstore and plan on sharing my insights with you. But for now, here's a sneak peek-

http://www.crystalcathedral.org/hour_of_power/videos/detail.php?contentid=3589&programID=2034

Encouragement: Patrick Henry

Okay,

Today's encouragement is in the form of television show. Many of you might have already seen it. It was an amazing story featured on a two hour special on Extreme Makeover. The lucky recipients of this house remodel were the Hughes family. In this episode, the team renovates a Kentucky home with a disabled son; while the team works on the home, the family visits London. (This summary was brought to you by my TiVo). Here's a little background on the family

The family consists of three children

Patrick Henry was the first of the group. He was born with some major disabilities, but he doesn't allow that to stop him. Patrick Henry was born without eyes, and is unable to straighten his arms or legs. The family refused to give up on him though, saying "okay, this is what we been handed, now let's get to work. I'm going to give him his full life and all the opportunities that I would give an able-bodied son,"

In the early years, his dad took a evening job, so he could help with Patrick Henry. Realizing that Patrick Henry could not participate in your typical father-son activities, he began teaching Henry to play the piano. By age 2, he was taking requests. It doesn't stop there, he also plays the trumpet and writes his own music. Despite using a manual wheelchair, Patrick still manages to participate in University activities such as marching band with the help of his father, who pushes his wheel chair in the formations.

M Patrick's take on his disability: "Music has been so amazing and miraculous to me. It's given me a great connection to life. God made me blind and unable to walk. Big deal. With music, I know that I can do anything I set my mind too."