Just a little more.


So what am I all about? That is a great question, and even I would like to know the answer. Well let me ask you something: is your life really yours? Or is it made up of bits of other people's lives. What I mean is would we still be who we are if we had different people around us? I believe that everyone you meet has some sort of impact on your life.

“Life’s not perfect”
By Byron Nysen

 You can click on the (----) to see a photo.




     Let me tell you a story about the most confusing, depressing, uplifting, pushy, happy, sad, person I know-Me. Byron Nysen, also known as obsessive Phantom Freak (that is a whole other story). Born on May 23, 1982, and a product of the US of A (photo). At the age of six months it was found out that I had a kidney disease (not fun). There was not much the doctors could do but cut me open and see what was going on. This is when they not only found out that I had a kidney disease but I also was missing a kidney (what else could go wrong). Everything would be alright for now, but down the line my kidney would fail and I would need to either: A-have a transplant, or B-go on Dialysis. But that would not have to be decided for about ten or eleven years. So I got to live as normally as I could, for a while.
     At the age of five, my family moved back to Australia for who knows what reasons. I would spend the next five years of my life there. Now this is where my memory comes in. I think the oldest memory I have is racing my brothers back home from school. The thing is, we were at different schools, so I still don't know how that race worked. Now stay with me here. We moved around a lot. The first house I remember living in was at Clovelly right next to the beach. I also remember racing my brothers back home from the beach, which was only a 1 minute run, but whoever got home first would get the worm water for the hose. You see, we had to wash off before we came into the house. When we were in Clovelly, a big part of my life was the Nippers Club. From that Club came one of my most proud moments. Every once in a blue moon they had a marathon, now it was set in ages. So 3-5, 6-11, and so on, I was in the 3-5 Min Marathon. And I won the race, it was a big thing for me. If you would like to know what the marathon consisted of just send me an email.
     From Clovelly we moved to 223 Rainbow Street, Randwick. We had a lot of good times there too. I remember we had a huge water fight, and Jeremy was trying to get Peter with a bucket of water, but when he tossed the water at him, the water went into our front door and all over the house. In Australia, we have freak hailstorms, and they came and went a few times. It was also in that house where I was taught the fine craftsmanship of mastering Lego, Atari, and the Amiga 500. Now just before we moved back to America, the doctors said they wanted to put me on Dialysis for about two years before my Kidney Transplant. My dad did not like that at all.
     Finally we moved back to America. The first house we moved in to was on Gail Ave in Sunnyvale (I love this town). I don't remember too much, except that is where I met my first girlfriend. You see her mother was working at the daycare center at Braly Elementary where I went to school. We went out for about three years and never kissed. At the end we decided that we were better friends then anything else. Oh, and in Elementary I must have gotten every award possible, and I was student of the year! Those were the good old days, and some times I wish I could get them back.
     So, back to the story. At this point my kidney was nonexistent, and I was getting more and more sleepy and yellow, no joke. The doctors in the US told my Dad that they wanted to get started on my Kidney Transplant. Now this would take some time because they had to find a donor and a bunch of other things that I don't know about. So for the next six months of my life, for three times a week, I would go for Dialysis. I hate Dialysis! I would rather do anything then have to go back onto Dialysis. Now mind you I was still in Elementary school while all this was going on. But I did get to go to kidney camp, AKA St Dorothy's Rest. I always had a lot of fun there. My first year there I had to leave half way through because I needed to get my Kidney Transplant. You know what that means don't you? Well it means that I would not have to do Dialysis.
     Ok, so were did I leave off? Oh, going in for my transplant. So that summer I went into the hospital not knowing what was going to happen to me. I was only hoping that I would come out of this alive. Well, needless to say, I did. But now what do I do? I could lose this gift that was given to me at any time. I made a lot of friends in the hospital, and let me tell you, the hospital is not the place to make friends. Most of the friends that I made have passed on, and that left me all alone. So after that summer, I went into Middle School. I went into Sunnyvale Middle School with high hopes. There was only one thing wrong. I did not have any friends. I remember my first day there; I woke up late so I had no time to do my hair. I fixed that by putting on a hat. When I got there, I asked some man were my classroom was. He showed me the way and told me that we were not allowed to wear hats at this school. So I go to my classroom late and when I opened the door all this kids were looking at me. As I move to find a seat I could hear people saying things about me, passing judgment on me, and it was not good. I did not talk to anyone for the first two weeks, and every once in a while some boy (Floyd) would take my lunch. This really happened. Well, one day I told on him. Boy, I had never seen him so pissed off. So at lunch he got me in a headlock, and I just know I was dead. Until Mike came and kicked him in the nuts, he let me go faster then you could say yellow. Now Mike and I did not talk all that much, but after that lunch we have been best friends ever since. The rest of my 6th grade year was great. Now came 7th and 8th and a different school. Mike and I would not see each other all that much, and once again I was alone. I never really got friends from middle school except Mike, so I went into Leadership. So I got through middle school, but now I would have to go in to High School. All through my 8th grade year I heard all the bad things that happened there. My brother who was already there was no help at all, he would just back up all the things that I had all ready heard. On top of that, Mike was going to be going to a different school. I did not know what I was going to do.
     I went into my first day of high school just thinking that it was going to be the same as middle. So on the first day, I walked to school; now don't let me fool you: we only lived about 2 minutes walking distance away. I got there about half an hour before my first class, so I just walked around school. Five minutes into my walk, a guy came up to me and asked what I was doing. A lot of things started going through my head: he's going to kill me, beat me up, hand me my head. I did not know what to say. He looked at me and said …

To be continued.



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