Disabled, But Not Down For The Count

Richard Allan

Sports Editor

Found battered and unconscious on the streets of Oakland, Denise Cooper would spend the next three months in a coma.

She never read the police report of her life-changing event. Her grandfather said she was caught in a seat belt and drug by a car she either jump from or was pushed out of.

With a sever brain injury which left her paralyzed on her left side and slurred speech; life as she knew it was over. Knowing that her life will never be the same, however, did not mean it couldn’t be better.

“I don’t want my disability to rule my life, Cooper said.

She said in a lot of ways the old Denise died in the accident and is born anew, in life and God.

Nearly 10 years later uneducated, wheelchair bound and limited by the effects of a severe brain injury, she found her way to Shasta College.

“I’m gonna get my high school diploma”, she said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with it, but I’m going to do it. I’m gonna walk across that stage and move the cord across…the whole thing. I’m gonna do it,” she said with increasing excitement nodding her head yes.

In an effort to fight the doldrums she signed up for an adaptive art class in the spring of 2004. What she discovered in that class far exceeded all her expectations.

Not only did she find something to do, she discovered the wonders of learning. She would also find her soul mate and find the loving parents she desperately craved since childhood. And after being in a wheel chair for 10 years, 11months, and a promise, she has learned to walk again.

In an effort to drop a few pounds, she started to walk at home in short stints. Being paralyzed on one side she needs a cane and a special brace to hold her left ankle straight. With a wobbled balance, determination, and her faith in God, she slowly forged her trail. Now she proudly boasts she walks 1240 feet a day at home and has lost 31 pounds. Her math tutor confirmed the distance, she said.

A promise to a walk at school this semester only increased her resolve. Despite the 45-minutes it takes her to walk from the math lab to the cafeteria, she’s determined to leave her wheelchair at home while she’s on campus.

“I haven’t fallen yet,” she said about her slow treks hindered by poor balance. “God has a spiritual gate-belt around me to help me keep my balance. I really believe that…and he hasn’t let me fall once.”

As her education progress she is finding her voice in the form of writing, she said. In part because of an incident with Rep. Wally Herger, she hopes to one day write for the Lance and be a voice for people with disabilities.

“There are some people who think if you get a disability your life is over,” she said. My disability was the beginning of my life, not the end. Maybe if they see me doing something they will think they can do it to.”

She was in her wheelchair sitting in the front row at a Herger speaking engagement and waited for the Q&A portion of the event. After Herger continually refused to call on her until she demanded he not over look her anymore. She said she would have been on Channel 7 News, but she could not control her slur in all the excitement, she said. “It sometimes takes me a while to speak and when I get excited I slur really bad so people can’t understand me.”

“Sometimes people act like I’m retarded or think I’m retarded because of how I look. Because I’m paralyzed on this side (she pointed to her side) and my arm is funny. I’m not retarded, I have a sever brain injury,” said a glassy-eyed Cooper aboout why she thinks Hereger would not call on her. “But that’s because of my injury,” she said after a short pause and a long smile.

While in her adaptive art class she met a man, Leighton, and the two started to hit it off. One day he asked her to accompany him to his music class when wasn’t feeling to good about herself. He played Amazing Grace on the piano and as the two sang the lyrics they knew they were in love, eight months later they exchanged vows.

They will celebrate their second anniversary on Dec. 5.

Growing up her life was filled with abuse and addiction on the streets of Oakland. In and out of foster homes often times running away in search of love from her junkie parents. She finally ran away for good at the age of 14 and would occasionally see her parents on the streets. At age 19, her mother introduced her to a needle and a new way to make money.

She has finally found the loving parents she desperately craved, in the form of in-laws. Leighton’s parents, Bill and Mickey, give her the love, support and understanding for her to push herself towards her goals.