Many years ago, before the dawn of time, there lived a girl... Ok, so it wasn't THAT long ago, but it was decades ago. As a much younger girl, I met someone who decades later would impact my life in a way I never expected. This is the story of Kelli-Ann Mead.
Attending an event, as a member of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, I had the opportunity to reconnect with this amazing person. I went to Easter Seals of NH for an afternoon gathering. I thought I'd go, make some new networking connections, share a bit about my business, and head home (maybe with a new connection or two, if I was lucky). What happened dramatically impacted my life, both professionally and personally.
Kelli-Ann Mead was the guest speaker and her son, Carter, was the special guest. Now I had seen Carter running up the hall, zigzagging in and out of rooms, when I first arrived. Having spent the majority of my childhood interacting with children who had special needs and the majority of my professional career working with students with significant medical, emotional, and/or intellectual disabilities, it was not surprising to me that about an hour later I found out Carter has some disabilities. After all, we were at Easter Seals. I knew that meant this family received some sort of Early Intervention support. What shocked me was what I didn't notice about Carter.
Until I saw the flames on his prosthetic leg, I hadn't even noticed Carter had a prosthetic leg. If you watch this video, you'll see what else I missed. Just a warning, in spite of what I didn't notice, I am confident in telling you I am a very competent special education teacher and consultant! :) My whole life, I was raised to look at the person first. There is no way anyone can look at Carter and not see him as the person first! Take a look at this amazing family and then read on to see how my professional life has changed because of them:
Meet the Mead Family
After Kelli-Ann's presentation, I went up to introduce myself and share how impressed I was with her sharing her story and Carter getting in front of such a large crowd. As we approached one another, we recognized each other and realized we had known each other 20+ years ago.
A friendship developed from there and Kelli-Ann was kind enough to come be a guest lecturer for one of the courses I teach at Southern New Hampshire University. The feedback from the students, who are all training to become Special Education teachers, was unbelievable. They were so motivated and inspired that many of them began to follow Kelli-Ann on Facebook, discuss Carter's inspiring story with their friends and other professors, and repeatedly ask to have the family back to speak together.
Since that time, Kelli-Ann and I have maintained a friendship and have even collaborated as part of a panel discussion. It seems to be the beginning of a great partnership and I expect we will have more opportunities to work together in the future. I'm happy to be able to share the Mead's story.
As a follow up, here is a more recent video of the family. They were honored as part of "5-Hour Energy™ helps Amazing People."
5-Hour Energy™ Amazing People: The Meads
I hope you enjoyed meeting this fantastic family. If you ever have the chance to hear Kelli-Ann speak, or get to meet this family in person, I highly encourage you to do it. You will not be disappointed!
Enjoy your day, Everyone!
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