Taking it to the next level

By Marj Moore 30 January 2017, 12:00AM

It’s that time of the year when you may be either breathing a sigh of relief because the school holiday period is drawing to a close or feeling hassled with the organization necessary to get the kids back to school.

And apart from the uniforms, stationery, school lunches, transport and everything else that comes with the territory, there is the added traffic on the roads and the dangers of children walking along the road sides that don’t have footpaths. 

For students, whether they are simply moving up a class in the same school or moving to a new school altogether, first days can be a hurdle to get over.

Changes are often challenging and some children cope better than others.

For the young man on our front page today, life itself has been a challenge pretty much from when he was young child.

Raised in Samoa, Jordon Milroy may have a physical disability but he is simply unstoppable and refuses to let his cerebral palsy define him. 

A university graduate with a Bachelor of Communications in Public Relations, he has set himself the tasks of raising awareness about disabilities; fund raising for wheelchairs for those less fortunate than himself and climbing towers wherever he can find them in the world.

This week he is on his way to the top of the Empire State Building in the United States of America and while his family, fans and supporters might have his back in a figurative sense, it will be very much his own physical efforts that will see him reach the top.

And he will reach the top.

His mother Raema said he has been training hard in preparation for this climb. 

In fact it could be said he has been training all his life with the support, encouragement and strict discipline of his immediate family.

In his childhood, there were hours and days of pain-filled, stretching and strengthening exercises for his muscles and bones as he was growing and developing.

This programme he underwent has paid off now he is in his mid twenties.

A great personality, a strong spirit and coupled with an irrepressible sense of humour, people are really taken by all that when they look past the awkward stance and slurred speech.

In fact there’s no self pity or looking back for Jordon

He is more likely to be looking ahead and upwards and plotting his next climb.

By Marj Moore 30 January 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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