CJ's Story
Our Inspiration - CJ Bellingar
Just Imagine…
… being very young, very, very smart, but unable to understand communication. What if you could understand the words someone is saying but not what is really meant – you are unable to “get” the inflections, to understand facial expressions, or recognize emotions. How frustrating would that be – especially for a person with a genius IQ. So much is going on inside but you can’t get it out. This is just a hint of the condition known as “Asperger’s Syndrome.”
Now try to imagine you are that same young boy, without any friends, who is being raised by a single mother, who is diagnosed with cancer. You do what you can to comfort your best friend, but Mom dies a few months later. Your big brother has to go through all kinds of battles to keep you with his family – including fighting for custody and fighting to make the school take you in because you tend to be disruptive due to your disorder.
Then once this whole battle seems won – even though big brother’s wife left him due to all the turmoil – you think you may be able to get to a place of stability and big brother ends up in a terrible motorcycle accident. You are shipped off to another part of the country to live with an Aunt and Uncle whom you barely know (along with their passel of kids). By this time, you are hitting your teen years – hormone city – and being sent to a strange place – Florida – where there are strange people of all different sizes, shapes, colors, and cultures – and you still have this incredible mind that teems with all kinds of ideas and questions and wonder but you still can’t function in society – especially a totally new and rather foreign one. Well, you just had a peek into CJ Bellingar’s world.
And yes, he is the CJ of the CJ Foundation.
You can see photos of CJ with his mom Joy on our Facebook page.