Determined Young Runner With Cerebral Palsy Gets Help To Finish The Race
Most children experience youth as a carefree time in life. They run around and play without any real thought but there are also children with physical limitations that are not able to take part in such activities. For a young man named Matt Woodrum, moving around was a difficulty, let alone trying to run around on the playground with the other children. Matt has cerebral palsy but he didn’t allow it to keep him down. In fact, he has something else on his side that helped him in ways most people can understand. He has a lot of determination and a lot of heart.
When Matt decided he was going to join a 400 m race with his schoolmates, there were some who had to question if he was going to be able to do it. Even his gym teacher told him that it wasn’t necessary for him to participate but he was determined that he was going to keep up with his school friends. His coach, the gym teacher stood on the sidelines and was prepared to tell them all to start. That is where Matt was, standing with his peers at the start line. His mother was also there taking a video of the event so that the father would be able to see it that evening. By the time it was over, she would have something that the world would want to see.
When you watch the video below, you can see just how determined this young man was. He was running the race with his classmates and he did so on his own at first. Eventually he needed some help and it came from an unexpected source.
Matt Woodrum suffers from cerebral palsy, which also affects other children. It is one of the leading issues that affects children, as one out of 500 kids are diagnosed with it. Even though it is common, most people don’t understand what is behind it and how far these children will go to participate.
Cerebral palsy typically takes place when the mother is pregnant. It is a type of brain injury that may also occur when the child is young. Due to the injury that occurs to the brain, the child will not have full movement of their body. It is a lifelong issue.
Matt really shows that he is determined to continue running with all of his heart. He does struggle and his coach does what he has to do to encourage him. He goes on the field and runs with the youngster to keep him going. It’s nice to watch the two of them running together.
Before long, some additional attention is attracted to the area where they are running. The mother is surprised with what she sees next.
Before long, the children start to follow and to provide additional encouragement as Matt is struggling to finish the race. He later said that the encouragement helped him to continue. So many of his friends were along on the run that it was difficult to see him in the crowd.
She was watching her son and his determination but she was also watching his classmates and the kindness they were showing.
Once Matt crossed the finish line, all of his classmates were cheering him on and providing the encouragement he needed. This is something you typically see in a movie but it happened in real life and you get to see it in this video.
Both the mother and father were proud of what Matt was able to accomplish that day. The video has received millions of views since it was uploaded to YouTube.
Cerebral palsy causes debilitating problems that affect children in different ways. It really doesn’t matter how those children have to run, however, they are all determined to finish the race. You can see it for yourself in this video:
