Jason

My hero is my eldest brother Jason Cheatham. He is my hero because throughout my life he has taught the most powerful lesson I think anyone should learn, and that is to have no preconceived notions or to judge anyone by their dispositions. See, my brother was born with Down Syndrome, so his entire life has been one big fight. He fought against a predetermined life-span, he fought against multiple doctor visits, but most importantly he fought against the preconceived notions that society had on the abilities he was predetermined to not fully obtain. Though I myself don't have a disability, having to witness what my brother went through is what helped to bring me strength to defend and protect my brother, but to also enter into a world of judgments while not letting people's assumptions be my defining factor.

My brother had a full life that saw him through school in obtaining his high school diploma, and in sports playing both soccer and baseball, which happened to be how I also got into the sports as well. Then for his facing a lot of medical battles from the moment he was born, but again being able to overcome all the medical experts saying he wouldn't live/service beyond a certain point. My brother was the definition of resilience, and though he is no longer here with me, I will always keep with me the lessons he unconsciously taught me. My hero is someone who could be underrated to most, but to me his life was so well spent and he achieved so much that he taught me no one, disability or not, we can't judge people just based off things we don't know or don't understand. Hence why I want to get into the entertainment field: I want to be able to show and express stories of people that are underrated or who have been predetermined to live a life that isn't essentially "normal."