Taking big steps toward a future

Melissa considers herself a normal kid.
By VIRGINIA ROSS
VINDICATOR CORESPONDENT
NORTH LIMA -- Melissa Barron's classmates planned to name her the most likely to trip at their high school graduation.
That is, until they learned Melissa intends to step out of her wheelchair and walk across the platform to receive her diploma just like all the other graduating seniors at South Range High School on Saturday.
"This is something I've wanted to do for a long time," Melissa said, her bright green eyes sparkling with excitement. "Most of the kids didn't even know I can walk because they always see me in a wheelchair."
Now the words spoken by her peers are more encouraging and less teasing.
Melissa, 19, of Green Township, has used a wheelchair most of her life.
At 18 months, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Her parents, Richard and Sharon Barron, said they saw signs of her disability soon after she was born.
Melissa was born three months early. As she grew, she could not crawl or walk like other children her age, and her left side was impaired. She had difficulty holding her bottle. Almost immediately, the Barrons started her in regular physical therapy sessions that have continued to help her gain strength and flexibility.
Surgeries
She has undergone four surgeries to correct her dislocated hips and has had her hamstrings lengthened. Within the next several years, she anticipates having a hip replacement.
"She weighed two and a half pounds when she was born," Sharon Barron said. "We always knew there was a possibility of disabilities. But we treated her just like other kids. She couldn't crawl, but if she wanted down on the floor, down she went, and she always found a way to make it work. She was always determined to figure it all out. She never held back. She always found another way to do something when she couldn't get it done the way other kids did it."
On Saturday, using a walker for support, Melissa plans to step several feet up a ramp and across a platform to collect her high school diploma.
Her sister, Heather, 18, is also graduating. Sister Brittany, 16, and brother, Josh, 6, will be close, along with her parents.
Walking at graduation is a goal Melissa set as a freshman.
"I started talking about it in sixth grade, when I first moved to South Range," she said. "But I was so weak. I started walking and really working on it in 11th grade. Now I plan to do it."
On Tuesday, Melissa had some practice during an awards ceremony at South Range. She walked away from her wheelchair to receive the Boomerang Award for being able to overcome a disability.
"I was nervous, and I kept telling myself, 'I hope I don't fall; I hope I don't fall.' And I didn't. It was the best feeling. And I did it for myself. Not anybody else."
But the last month has taken its toll on the determined young woman.
Slight setback
Several weeks ago Melissa received new leg braces and had to learn to use them in time for graduation. Because she was working on her walk too intensely, she developed tendinitis in her feet and had to take a break.
"I wasn't allowed to walk for a week, just two weeks before graduation," she said, adding, "Can you believe that? But I've got it down now."
Melissa will be wearing her new braces, which come just below her knees and are lighter than her old braces, which extended above her knees.
"I'm nervous, because it's going to be outside at the football stadium and I think a lot of people will be there," she said. "But I've worked really hard for this, and I'm also very excited.
"I'm just one of the kids. I don't look at myself as special or a hero or important or anything. I worked at this really hard, for me, not to be an example or hero to anyone else. I am like everyone else; I just can't use my legs as well as everyone else."
In the fall Melissa will be off to Akron University, where she plans to study early-childhood education and possibly minor in and earn a master's degree in special education. Heather will be close by at Kent State University.
"I'm just a normal teenage girl," Melissa said. "I go out with my friends. I have fun. I don't see myself as important, but as a normal kid. If other people find me inspiring, that's good. But it's not what this is about. This is something I've worked on and am doing for myself.
"I don't know anything different than this. So why be negative? I'm just me. I'm Melissa and I'm working hard to make the most of everything.
"It's a good thing and I'm pleased with all of it. I'm pleased with myself that I've worked so hard, and I know I can do this. On Saturday I might be thinking, 'I hope I don't fall,' but I've already come so far.
"How can it be anything but great?"