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About Me

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my many faces
My name is Romeo Barnes. I'm an author and a BJJ black belt with cerebral palsy. This blog is about my life balancing existence in two worlds. My latest book, My World is now available Amazon.com. Glad you're here, enjoy the journey.

1 year

These last 2 years has been pretty crazy for me. Here's a quick recap for those who haven't been following September 2010, I go into hospital for a surgery that has been routine for the past 11 years, a baclofen pump replacement. It happens every 5 to 7(depending on your pump's battery). I had the 7-year battery. I woke up from the surgery with insane back pain. Now you must understand, I suffer from neuromuscular scoliosis, so if there is anyone who knows about back pain its me, because I deal with it every single day. Needless to say, when I woke up and couldn't stand the pain from simply lying on my back I knew something was wrong. They sent me home the next day and two days following that my incision opened. After countless ER visits and re-admissions to the hospital for infection we finally decided to abandon the idea of a new pump installation altogether. Fast forward Feb 2011 I finally start training again and in December of 2011 I received my black belt. They say when you get your black belt you learn more than you ever learned coming up through the ranks. I've been a black belt for a year, so what have I learned? Well, I'll be the first to admit I've been exposed to a few new positions, but they've all been variations on classic positions like spider guard. What I discovered was more about myself than BJJ. After I finally was finished with the revolving trap door that was the hospital, I learned that BJJ is easiest part of my life. There's nothing those mats can throw at me that I can't handle. In short perseverance is just as important as preparation.

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Why Physical Therapy sucks

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