Cape Town - With vivid visions and memories of the tragic accident which left Razano Paul Peters wheelchair-bound, the resilient motivational speaker from Hanover Park has now narrated his soul-stirring story titled Coming into the Light one letter at a time.
While typing his story with just one finger due to muscle weakness in his hands, Peters described how a fun soap bubble chase across the street left him with severe brain injuries.
"I was visiting my relatives when my brother, cousin, and I were chasing soap bubbles across the street in front of our house. We were having so much fun that we were totally unbothered by the heavy traffic, and as we were on our way home, I was struck by an oncoming vehicle that launched me three metres into the air, that left me crashing my head on the tarmac, losing consciousness.
“Having lost my sense of self-awareness, when I awoke from my coma, I saw three doors: a white, a red, and a yellow door. Following that, I entered the yellow door and soon realised that I was in a hospital bed, unable to move or talk.
“One minute I was a normal, vibrant 3-year-old, and the next my movement and independence had been taken away from me completely," said Peters.
Peters’s whole life changed when he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy because of severe muscle paralysis and hemiplegia, which made it hard for him to move.
“From the age of five, I attended a special-needs school. I participated in the national physical disabled Olympics and wheelchair ballroom dancing during my middle-school years. I was a rebellious teenager. I graduated with a Grade 6 special education, and when I was 19 years old, I started my own business producing costume jewellery while supporting a non-profit organisation with fund-raising for their projects.
“My mother was a single divorcee, raising me and my brother in a difficult financial situation. She wasn’t sure how she was going to send me to a special-needs school when we didn't even have food on the table. The good news is that I got a full bursary so I could go to the best schools in the country, but because I couldn't finish Grade 12 because of my condition, I had a limited number of jobs and courses that I could have done if I didn't have this disability,“ said Peters.
Co-author and Peters’s mother, Shanaaz Arendse, said that when the accident happened, her life became an adventure after she realised that Paul was still Paul, just in a different way,
“I had to accept the loss of the old Paul and embrace the new one. We didn’t have a lot of information resources back then. We had no idea how much Paul would be able to do. He experienced learning issues in addition to his physical limitations. But I couldn't leave him like that, giving up wasn't an option.
“I spent a lot of time and effort getting him well, or as well as we could, and the rest was based on our faith. It was my faith in God that kept me going. Because, to be honest, having a loved one with a handicap can make you feel disabled in a variety of ways,” said Arendse.
Dealing with the changes that had to take place, Peters said that fighting his own handicap was frustrating because it got to a point where his mind told him to get up and do things for himself, but he couldn’t.
“My life story could only be typed with one finger due to muscle weakness in my hands. It took me four years to transcribe this, and then my mother and I began to piece together the story.
“It wasn’t easy revisiting some of my unpleasant old memories at a time when I was trying to move on with my life, but my trust in Jesus kept me going.
“I had to face not just my physical problems but also find my way through life. I had to learn to be resilient at a young age because I was looking for love just like everyone else. It was difficult to deal with because I had to face issues such as hormones and temptations. Able-bodied people notice the impairment before they notice the genuine you, and having to work through disability abuse, PTSD, and suicidal thoughts can be difficult. Parental divorce, remarriages, as well as decisions made by the schooling system about my future and what options were accessible to me,” said Peters.
Peters said that he hopes the book offers practical assistance in navigating through challenges.
“The advice or encouragement in the book is applicable to anybody confronting life's many problems, not only people with disabilities. At the end of the day, I want readers to know that they were born with a purpose. Each one of us is a purpose or a gift to somebody else,” Peters said.
Weekend Argus