Founders Story
Hi, I am Danny the founder of UNBOUND Living.
I created UNBOUND Living out of a desire to share my experiences with limited mobility and help others who struggle with how to manage their mobility and the emotional effects it has on their wellbeing.
I had Polio when I was 2 years old. It affected my left leg, left hip and lower back. I wore braces and used crutches until I was 18 years old after which I began working on not using any supportive devices.
When I was 9 years old, I was accepted by the Shriners Children’s Hospital for corrective surgery and spent the next 4 years, on and off, at the hospital for various surgeries. The surgeries’ purpose was to help me get rid of the braces and to walk on my own. Thay seemed to help but I still relied on crutches to walk.
I was bullied in grammar school and left out of any type of school activities and events. When I attended Jr. High School, I was invisible, no one noticed me and during P.E. I was relegated to passing out and collecting towels since I could not participate in sports.
My parents moved from the city to a small family-owned farm in the country while I was in Jr. High.
I had 3 siblings, 2 sisters and a brother. My parents treated us all the same, we all had to do the chores, including feeding the animals and working in the garden. During the summer my mom would work on local farms, and she would take us along to help.
The country school was small and did not have a Jr. High so I went into 8th grade before entering high school. Small town schools are different; I was accepted for who I was even though I was different. I rode the bus to and from school and it was easier to become friends with others on the bus.
I really liked my 8th grade teacher; she was firm but fair and did not show favoritism to any student. Once I entered high school, things changed.
High school culture is different than grammar school, even in a small town. There are clicks and groups and none of them were willing to let me in. It was a lonely time, I was never bullied, just ignored. In my senior year I became friends with a new student who was also different and we helped each other get through our last year of high school. We had both joined Future Farmers of America hoping that was where life was leading.
It was at the end of that year that I decided to ditch the crutches and try walking on my own. More on that later.
I wanted to become a farmer because I loved being outdoors and caring for animals, but my high school counselor said that I need a desk job. My parents were poor and could not afford college and I was not sure what was going to be my next step.
My high school principal, Mr. A, was a very kind man, and his wife was a teacher at the same school. She was the art teacher and noticed my willingness to participate in the class. She gave me a special project to work on which made me feel wanted. She had spoken to my counselor and her husband about me and asked if there were any special programs that would pay for my college.
Mr. A did some research and discovered that the State of CA had a department that offered college grants to handicapped students whose parents met a financial qualification. My parents did not have a lot of money or income, and I qualified for the grant.
This began a new chapter in my life. I studied accounting and business and graduated in 5 years. College life was different; I spent my time studying and did not focus on social life. I lived with my grandparents and would go home on the weekends. During my third year, I met my future wife in a class that we had together, things moved fast and we were married in 9 months.
After graduating I worked as a credit manager and in Real Estate sales and eventually worked as a tax accountant for 30 years.
Let’s flash back to my senior year in high school where real-life change happened. This changed my perspective from who I was from who I was not to who I was.
While riding the bus to school one day one of the kids invited me to come to church. I accepted and went to church that Sunday.
What I found was complete acceptance from everyone. I was accepted for who I was, a person with value and worth, something I longed for. I kept going back and joined the youth group, where I found real friendship.
I now had friends that wanted to hang out with me and talk and share lives. I was no longer the crippled kid in the corner but a member of a community that cared for and supported me.
With the help of the youth leader, I was able to rely on the work that the doctors at the Shriners Hospital had done and ditched the braces and weened myself off the crutches. I was able to walk on my own, I had a limp, but I could walk on my own. Later in life I would have to return to the use of crutches (forearm crutches) due to muscle weakness from overuse.
I now had purpose in my life; I would focus on who I was and not who I was not.
Label’s given by society meant nothing to me. I defined who I was not society.
I discovered that if I kept moving, was mindful of my body’s needs, ate nutritious meals, and listened to my favorite music, my joy in life was greatly enhanced.
That is why I created UNBOUND Living, a place where you are not bound by labels that society or family and friends place on you, but where you can be part of community of people that have the same experiences and can share