With every possible excuse, he makes none.
Jerreme wade faced tough odds from the very start.
He was still inside his mother’s pregnant belly when he suffered a stroke. After birth, he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. A second diagnosis of epilepsy came after he had his first grand mal seizure at 14 months old.
Yet despite his disabilities, Wade has lived his 22 years to the fullest, being active in sports even after brain surgery four years ago could have meant the end of all he loved.
Wade has proven the naysayers wrong again and again, and in 2012, represented his country as part of the U.S. National Soccer Team at the Paralympic Games in London, England. The Paralympics, which follow the Olympics every two years, is a multi-sport event for elite athletes who have physical and intellectual disabilities.
Today, Wade remains active in soccer while at the same time attending college and being a motivational speaker. He’s also an ambassador for the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.
“We all face challenges,” says Wade, who lives in Chesapeake, Va., with his parents, Larry and Sherrese Wade. “It’s just a matter of how you go about it and the attitude you have toward it.”
Although seizures, daily pain, physical therapy and medications were the mainstay of much of his life, Wade tried hard to be as normal a kid as possible. On the heels of his older brother and sister, he got involved in sports–playing soccer and football.
Wade sometimes suffered seizures on the playing field, but always pushed forward. It wasn’t an option, he says, to give up. It’s all part of his never-give up philosophy.
But by the time he graduated high school in 2009, Wade’s epilepsy had progressed to the point he needed surgery. So that November, doctors removed about 35 percent of his brain—where the seizures were occuring—at the Medical College of Virginia hospitals in Richmond, Va.
The night before surgery, Wade pledged that if he made it through, he wanted to help others by sharing his story. The surgery was successful and in the four years since, he hasn’t had a single seizure.
Last year, he began realizing his goal of helping others when he launched his own motivational speaking company. The mission of Progress Ova Pain is to inspire others in the areas of exercise, faith and perseverance.
Staying healthy is one of the key topics for Wade—it’s what he’s had to do all his life to keep his diseases at bay. If he doesn’t eat right, drink enough water or get enough sleep, his body feels it.
“Living a healthy lifestyle is not only important to people who have disabilities, but to people who don’t,” he says. “It can affect you physically and mentally and give you that extra pep in your step that you need during the day.”
Wade is on track to complete his associate degree in social science from Tidewater Community College, and later this year he plans to transfer to a four-year university to obtain his bachelor’s degree in English. You can follow his story on his website, progressovapain.com.