{"id":7736,"date":"2019-11-29T08:00:51","date_gmt":"2019-11-29T14:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/blog\/?p=7736"},"modified":"2022-01-19T20:59:11","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T02:59:11","slug":"wheelchair-makes-him-different-but-treated-like-everyone-else","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wheelchair-makes-him-different-but-treated-like-everyone-else\/","title":{"rendered":"Using a wheelchair makes him different, but he wants to be treated like everyone else"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Helping kids grow without limits<\/p>\n

See how OSF Children\u2019s Hospital helps kids like Brantley.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

There\u2019s a lot you can learn from a conversation with 7-year-old Brantley Williams.<\/p>\n

He can teach you how to catch a moth without hurting its delicate wings, how to defend a basketball opponent who\u2019s bigger than you and how to do a push-up. (He can do 55.)<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll also teach you that just because someone might look different doesn\u2019t mean they aren\u2019t just like you.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing in a wheelchair makes you a little bit different, but it doesn\u2019t make you different enough to not have friends,\u201d Brantley said.<\/p>\n

\u2018I can do the same things they can\u2019<\/h2>\n

Olivia Williams\u2019s pregnancy seemed to be going smoothly until something unusual showed up on her 18-week sonogram. At her next appointment, she was given the shocking news that her baby had spina bifida<\/a> \u2013 a birth defect that occurs when the spine and spinal cord don\u2019t form properly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In that moment, everything changed for Olivia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was 17, and I was actually going to be giving him up for adoption. The day I found out he had spina bifida, I changed my mind. I was like, \u2018OK, we\u2019re doing this,\u2019\u201d Olivia said. \u201cFrom that day, I have never thought twice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, Olivia has done everything she could to give Brantley his best chances to live a full life.<\/p>\n

At 25 weeks gestation, Brantley had his first surgery, performed in utero. His second surgery came within 24 hours of birth. All told, Brantley has undergone 16 surgeries in his seven-year lifetime, along with countless appointments and drives from their home in Goodfield to OSF HealthCare Children\u2019s Hospital of Illinois<\/a> in Peoria.<\/p>\n

\u201cStuff comes up and we deal with it. It\u2019s inevitable. The best thing to do is know we are in the best care we could possibly be in,\u201d Olivia said.<\/p>\n

[bctt tweet=”Even though I\u2019m in a wheelchair, I can do the same things they can \u2013 just differently.” username=”osfhealthcare”]<\/p>\n

Despite the complications, Brantley has thrived. He\u2019s active at church and school, plays wheelchair basketball with the Peoria Wildcats<\/a> and seems to make friends everywhere he goes.<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean he hasn\u2019t had his moments of struggle, especially when people point, stare or make insensitive comments about his disability. When it was time to start school, he worried how the other kids would treat him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know if I would have that many friends since I couldn\u2019t walk,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, it\u2019s different. I have friends from church and school. They learn that even though I\u2019m in a wheelchair, I can do the same things they can \u2013 just differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not that different at all<\/h2>\n

\"BrantleySpina bifida has become a big part of Olivia and Brantley\u2019s lives, and it\u2019s shaped both of them in ways they couldn\u2019t have predicted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t think of him any other way, and I wouldn\u2019t want him any other way. Brantley being the way God made Brantley has made his personality what it is. He is the most considerate, kind, loving soul that you could ever meet, especially in a young child,\u201d Olivia said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a way of making people feel good when they\u2019re around him.\u201d<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s one thing Olivia and Brantley have learned that they want you to know, it\u2019s that it\u2019s OK to be different<\/a>. So instead of pointing and staring, or wondering aloud \u201cwhat\u2019s wrong\u201d with someone, just say hi.<\/p>\n

\u201cOutwardly, we might look different, but we\u2019re really not that different at all. We might have several extra appointments and therapies, we might have struggles we go through in life, but we just want to be included,\u201d Olivia said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Helping kids grow without limits See how OSF Children\u2019s Hospital helps kids like Brantley. There\u2019s a lot you can learn from a conversation with 7-year-old Brantley Williams. He can teach you how to catch a moth without hurting its delicate wings, how to defend a basketball opponent who\u2019s bigger than you and how to do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":7918,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[116,223],"tags":[745,142,950,352],"coauthors":[757],"class_list":["post-7736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pediatrics","category-patient-story","tag-child-development","tag-childrens-hospital-of-illinois","tag-spina-bifida","tag-spine"],"yoast_head":"\nWheelchair makes him different, and different is OK | OSF HealthCare<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Born with spina bifida, 7-year-old Brantley Williams uses a wheelchair most of the time \u2013 but that doesn't stop him from living a full life.\" \/>\n<meta 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