Interview With Sheila Hall: Living With Clubbed Arms


 Tell my readers about yourself:


I was born in Pasadena, TX on April 18, 1957.  I have two brothers, one older with straight arms and one younger with arms like mine.  I was married (divorced now and he is deceased) and have a son and three grandkids with one on the way.  I prayed every single day that they would have straight arms and God does answer prayers.   My parents are now both deceased.   


I was born with clubbed arms absent radius. That means the radius (bone) that holds the arm straight is missing.  When I was 5 weeks old I had my first surgery at Shriners Crippled Children's Hospital.  A skin graft (taking skin from one place (buttocks) and placing it in another (the crook of my arms) was performed .  The surgeries continued until I was ten.  The Drs. had tried several times to shave the wrist bone and insert a stainless steel rod and leave it for six weeks.  As soon as the rod was removed they would fall back.  The Drs. said there was nothing else they could do, but fuse the bones but it would severely limit my mobility.  THANK! Goodness this was not done.         


We moved to Alabama when I was seven and to this day I'm still here( a few moves away and back).  I attended the elementary and high schools here.  I'm not going to tell you it was easy because it wasn't.  Children can be cruel by calling you names and excluding you from things because you are different,  Adults can also be cruel.  Once at a ballgame my brother and I were playing in front of the bleachers and some ladies sitting beside my mom said "Those children should be locked up and hidden." My mom said," Those are my children."  Needless to say the ladies moved hopefully from embarrassment!  


How do you feel when people stare:


 Well, I feel the same as anyone else would.  It makes me feel uncomfortable and inferior.  My arms are affected, not my brain.  I wish people would just ask what happened.


What is your life motto:


The Golden Rule: Never give up! 


Never give up!  My parents made me try to do something and if  I couldn't they would help. They made me an independent woman and once again THANK goodness.  I may not do things the way someone with straight arms does but it gets done.  There is always a way to adapt to the situation.  Just like someone with straight arms I rode a bike, roller skated, water skied, played softball, held a job, went to college along with many other things.  It may just take me longer.   


What advice would you give a child?


MY advice to a child facing what I did is once again NEVER give up.  Give it 100% of what you have and yes it may be hard, but in the end you will feel so good about yourself.  



What advice would you give a parent?


My advice to the parents is to let the child try.  Encourage them in everything they do, even if you think they will never accomplish it.  You may be surprised!  Be sure to hold them when they cry because someone is being mean to them.


My mom once asked my aunt (a devout Catholic/I guess that doesn't really matter) Why would God punish me with not one but two handicapped children?  My aunt told her that God wasn't punishing her for anything but had chosen her to love and take care of His children.  She also said who knows what normal is...we may be the freaks.  She had never looked at the situation like that, but she loved and cared for us as they did by making us independent, caring individuals. 


What would you say to your family?


THANK YOU.  Words can never express my gratitude.



What do you want people to know about what type of person you are?


That I'm an independent woman that gives 110%, hates to ask for help and has adapted to my situation.  I have asked "why me?" but it may as well be me as anyone else.  I would not wish being handicapped on my worst enemy....hopefully I don't have any.



What is something people don't know about your personality.


I have always felt inferior.  People that see me have no idea how I feel because of the front I put on.  Am I happy?  Most of the time.  Am I lonely? Sometimes. I felt like such a failure after my divorce that I keep people at a distance so they don't find a reason to reject me.  I fight with depression and take my little happy pills.  :) 



 


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