Life is challenging in many ways for all of us, but some have to face life’s challenges and overcome other’s that many of us have never had to experience. Some people are born with challenges that others are not; some develop challenging obstacles early or later in life. Some must face life without sight, seeing only darkness. Others must live and grow in a world that is partially or completely silent. No matter the challenge, people make their own choices to use these unexpected challenges as an excuse to fail, or a reason to succeed. There are many famous and not-so-famous people with visual and auditory challenges that suffer at the hands of discrimination and bullying their entire life, but many choose to persevere and lead happy…show more content… Initially the results of an audiogram indicated that Derrick suffered from hearing loss in his left ear which eventually worsened to also affect his hearing in his right ear. By the young age of just 3 years old, he was diagnosed with a genetic and incurable hearing problem which eventually caused loss of hearing in both of his ears, leaving him deaf in both ears and his parents devastated. His mom was heartbroken as any parent would be, but she didn’t give up even though she could have. She put her trust in God and believes still today that God guided her to carry on and to never lose faith in the battle ahead of…show more content… They wouldn’t stay in place in his ears so his mother set out to find a way to improvise. They tried tape, headbands, scarves, anything they could come up with to hold his hearing aids in place but nothing worked. Derrick tried playing football without them but he became even more frustrated. Finally his mother cut a pair of pantyhose and tied the top of them to see if wearing them would hold his hearing aids in place under his helmet; lo and behold, it worked! This wasn’t enough for Derrick to overcome the challenges of playing tackle football and not be able to hear the plays the quarterback called, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. There were coaches that couldn’t see Derrick and his talent; they could only focus on his deafness. This, in turn, made Derrick more determined than ever to prove what he was capable of and he continued to fight for what he wanted. He worked harder than any of the other players, kept himself on a stringent diet to maintain his weight, worked out to stay in shape, and never missed a game. By the time Derrick started high school, he faced every adversity that came his way and learned how to advocate for himself forcing people to respect him and make adjustments in dealing with his deafness. He learned to read lips and even pulled down the quarterback’s helmet when he had to so he could read lips to understand