“You’re going to be happy,” said life. “But first, I’ll make you strong.”
Strength has been the underlying theme in Barendhts’s life before taking his first breath. On April 6, 2001, his parents were involved in a serious car accident that triggered his premature birth. His mom was only six months along. Doctors rushed to save him, holding his impossibly small, one-pound body in their hands.
Not long after, they shared the news with his family that he had cerebral palsy. He would need to call on that strength of his time and time again. And he did. He would. He has.