Spotlight on: Gary Charles

Full Name: Garrett James Charles
Birthday: February 10, 1989
Method of Creation: #3- A very specific situation yielded this prominent figure of fun, inspiration, and miracle!

Creation story:
This one is simple. I wanted to write about someone who was considered badly disabled but made the most out of a situation and triumphed over it. He had to be a musician- that was his triumph. Like I said there is a fine line between the medical world and my world and this is right there on that line. The only explanation I need here rather than his biography is his name and looks. I envisioned this person to be really popular and social and I wanted a name that could be shortened to an uncommon but still cool nickname. The name that came to my mind was Gary. The last name was easier. I wanted it to start with Ch-. I came up with Charles. If you google Gary Charles, it's the name of some soccer player or something as well. Total coincidence. His middle name is one of my somewhat generic middle names, the others being Roy, Rose, and Fay. His looks are based on a certain person I met but as time went on I realized he looked more like this other person.

Gary is probably one of the easiest people to draw just because he is easily identifiable. He has trademark "skater hair" that is past the ear and flipped out. It's a middle-to-dark brown in color and complements his darker skin tone. His eyes are deep-set and dark blue, and are hidden behind black, square glasses. He has a very warrior-like nose and a nice, crooked smile that is one of his trademarks. He isn't very tall, at about 5'6'', and always has on this green, plaid fleece jacket. Every pic of him has all of these things. OK now onto his biography, shall we?

Garrett James Charles was born on February 10, 1989, in Kalta, Vetonia. (I haven't mentioned the states yet, so Vetonia is in the area of Texas. Kalta is right in the middle of the state and is a big town amongst ranches and farms.) He was a perfect baby who was very smart and was always early for his milestones. He was later joined by little brother Lleyton and then by identical twin sisters, Cameron and Jillian. All was well and he was a happy child who always had his nose in a book reading. However, on May 13, 1998, Garrett's life changed forever.

He was in the third grade, things were going well, and he had arrived home from school like usual. He finished his book so he went to the living room to play with some toy trucks he had. Suddenly, he felt his right arm tighten up. He began to get a weird feeling and found that he couldn't move his arm at all. The vision in his right eye then started to tunnel and fade, as if he were lightheaded. He could feel his head pounding and tried to get up. He was really getting scared because he couldn't control his right leg. It was as if the right side of his body was going to sleep. He managed to stumble into the kitchen where his mom was cooking dinner and tried to tell her he couldn't move his right side but all that came out of his mouth was a jumbled mess. Suddenly, the black blanket of unconsciousness wrapped itself around him and he fell to the floor.

He was rushed to the hospital and his condition continued to worsen rapidly. As he went in for Xrays, it became apparent what had happened- a blood clot had made its way from his heart to his brain and had cut off the blood to the motion areas on the left side. The damage was done, and it was very bad. Nobody thought he'd live, it was that bad. However, he did not die and the clot was duccessfully removed. He was in a coma for about three weeks until something miraculous happened- he woke up.

As it is written, his little brother Lleyton came in the room. Gary could hear what was going on but had no idea where he was, what happened, or how much time had passed. For all he knew it was later that evening. Lleyton grabbed Gary's left hand and said, "Garrett if you can her me squeeze my hand!" Suddenly Gary realized that this was serious and that he was probably in the hospital. All the memories came back to him of what had happened that night in May. Being the resilient person that he was, Gary gave Lleyton's hand a good solid squeeze. Lleyton of course asked him to do it again and he did, many times. The nurse and his family was called in and so the recovery began.

As he fully awoke it was apparent that he was forever changed. His right arm, once moving, now lay lifeless at his side, the fingers curled and the elbow and wrist bent. His right leg, which once walked in perfect time, was now so rigid it would not straighten, move, or bear much weight. He could not see out of his right eye and when he tried to smile only the left side moved. Gary was a stroke survivor.

He attended some therapy and quickly adapted to doing things one-handed. Like Lleyton said, "Gary was handed lemons and he not only made lemonade but he make a lemon meringue pie, harvested the seeds, grew many lemon trees, and started a business." Probably the best thing that helped get Gary through the first few months was something that not many could say. His stoke affected his right side. Gary is left-handed. He did not need to learn to use his left side, it was dominant already!

After the incident, his family decided to move away. In Kiillaana there are five neurology-based hospitals, peppered in various parts of the country. I have had these hospitals since middle school and their official title is Chandalahara of... and then the city. It's a long name, I know, so I usually refer to its abbreviated name. Gary would be able to have the best care available to him for all the problems he would face. He got to choose which one to move to. After looking carefully at his options, he chose Chandalahara of Pathreeah, which would put him in Pyncyltonia (and therfore one step closer to being assiciated with me). So the family moved to Kennywood.

Amazingly, Gary was able to start the fourth grade with everyone else, just three months after the incident. He still had his love for science and books, just now he did them from a wheelchair.

Now it's time for the exciting part- the other thing that changed Gary's life forever. Let's review. Gary had a stroke, is paralyzed on his right side, and has moved across the country. He is resilient enough to start school with everyone else.

Gary had always wanted to play the trumpet. After his stroke, it was apparent that the trumpet was no longer an option for him. All woodwinds were out- he needed both hands to play them and he only had his left. He was very discouraged, that is, until he found an instrument that fit his unique anatomy, range of motion, etc. It only needed to be held with the right hand and he could make it work. It was played almost entirely with the left hand and when he first held it he knew it was the one- it was none other than the French Horn.

Gary had to adapt in order to play it, obviously. He had no problem holding it, but playing it would be a challenge. He finally decided to try playing out the side of his mouth as opposed to the middle. It worked. He spent countless hours teaching himself how to play, for nobody played the way he did. His hard work payed off and he got really good really fast. He kept it up all through middle and high school, and is now majoring in performance in college.

Gary's middle school and high school years were very hard on him neurologically. His damaged brain continued to cause him all sorts of problems and he was forced to miss a lot of school. He was tired all the time and could hardly think straight some days but he hung in there and eventually hthings got a lot better for him. He had surgery right afer his junior year to cut the nerves in his leg, making it relax more and had a VNS placed into his chest to try to regulate the damaged area of his brain and maybe get him some motion back. He began his senior year at a different, and smaller school (this is how I came to "know" him) and for the first time in eight years he could walk ALL THE TIME!!! He was so happy. While things didn't improve right away, they were at least getting somewhat better.

At the start of Gary's freshman year in college, a medical breakthrough miracle happened. As things fell into place, it became obvious that the damaged area was beginning to sort of heal in a way. He no longer felt tired all the time and had more energy than he'd had in years! The really amazing thing happened in the late fall of 2007- he tried to move his arm and his hand twitched. That was enough to get him excited and he began going to intense physical therapy and after having surgery to "unlock" his frozen joints he and the doctors were amazed at what they were seeing. Gary could move his arm! His leg moved better, his right eye started to move with his left, he could see better, he could smile with both sides again, he could turn his head to the right, the list goes on and on!

Today, ten years after the incident, Gary has made so much progress he is a different person. He is walking very well, he can speak clearly, he can hold things with his right hand, and he can scratch his nose with his right arm :-).

As you can see from this, I put a lot of thought into these people. I do my medical research before going out and writing stories. Gary is one of my favorite characters I've ever come up with and now you can sort of see why.