My name is Michael Gaglianone. I am 19 years old and I live with my parents in NJ. I don’t have any siblings, but I have a dog named Boomer. I’m currently attending college majoring in Graphic Design but I don’t live there. I have Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and I was diagnosed when I was 5.
One of my best memories is our trip to the Grand Canyon with my parents. We went with an expedition company. We took a really small plane from Las Vegas to a real ranch. We got to ride horses and shoot skeet. My dad and I took a utility vehicle and my mom and the other people were on ATV’s to the north rim of the Canyon. We slept in a covered wagon. The next day we took a helicopter into the canyon and it landed right next to the Colorado River. We climbed onto these boats called J-rigs to raft down the river for 3 days. We slept on cots under the stars. There were billions of stars and I saw satellites in orbit. That was cool. The guides told us all about the history of the canyon and they cooked all our meals. We even went through rapids. My mom wanted me to sit in the safe area they called the chicken coop. I didn’t want to so my dad put me in front of him. He wrapped his legs around me and told me to hold onto the ropes. It was really fun. I’ll never forget that trip. My funniest memory is when my whole family was in the Outer Banks on vacation. We rented a big house with a pool area in the back. One night we were all sitting outside in the back. My cousin Jonathan went into the house through the sliding screen door. When he came back out, he didn’t see the screen and he walked through it but he thought it was a spider web. He was flailing his arms like a crazy person thinking there was a web on him! I wish we had a video. It was so funny, we still bust on him about that.
If I could invite any 3 people dead or alive to dinner, I would invite Jimmie Johnson to talk him about racing because he’s my favorite Nascar driver. I would invite Derek Jeter because he’s my favorite player. I did meet him but I didn’t get to really talk to him. The 3rd person is General Patton because he’s one of the greatest generals in WWII and I love history. I hope they don’t have to come to the same dinner. That would be kind of weird!
If you could change something in the world, what would you change? I know what the question is asking and I would probably answer what most people answer which is that I want peace and people not to hurt each other. But in my world, I would want health insurance companies to stop denying people the ability to live as close to normal lives as possible. I think people like me should be able to get the newest and greatest technologies available to help them so they can fulfill their life goals just like others can.
