A Rich Life: Living With Cerebral Palsy

By Matthew Rich and Daryl Omar

A book created by two friends, Matt Rich and Daryl Omar, after meeting in Chickie and Pete's in Glassboro, NJ. The two became fast friends and went on to create this book. This book is about Matt's overcoming of CP, Cerebral Palsy, learning how to walk and how to conquer everything he does in life. Matt Rich is a motivational speaker and persona

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Writing Lifestyle
• Release date: Apr 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9781736142592

Book preview

A Rich Life

by Matthew Rich

by Matthew Rich

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter  Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Foreword

I cannot tell you the exact day I met Matt Rich. It seems like our meeting was inevitable. Matt was coworkers with my girlfriend. I came into the local restaurant, Chickie’s and Pete’s, and was greeted by a man in a wheelchair, a bright smile and instantly felt a connection. Chickie’s was one of those jobs mostly occupied by college students who felt better than the world. Even though they haven’t completed their degree or found their job beyond Glassboro, many of these kids were far removed from their daily duties and need of money. Matt didn’t seem like he worked there. He was most certainly wearing the shirt and occupying the host podium. However, he seemed like a guy who came to get out of the house and meet new people. Not at the club scene at night but in the middle of the afternoon. I hope this makes sense to those who have never met Matt. For those who have met Matt, I think you can understand and likely chuckled at the idea of such a thing. Matt is definitely the guy who would take a job, saying hello to people just to keep busy.

I usually came by to pick up my girlfriend and walk back home with her on a near-daily basis. I had never seen the man before, nor could I imagine I would be up at 12:53 am years after working on his memoir, autobiography, or motivational guide. I sat at the bar. I believe I was reading. I recall speaking to a couple of people at the bar while I waited for her to clock out. Something inside my spirit told me to speak to him, and apparently, Matt felt the same. He met me at the bar, we spoke and talked next thing I knew, I was completely blown away at the life of this man.

A motivational speaker, he races, he has cerebral palsy, he walks, and he has been looking to write a book for a while. Rather, so many people had told him to write a book it was his priority. However, he had difficulty writing due to his condition, and when I told him I was a published author, it seemed like a match made in heaven. Speaking of heaven, the next time we met was with his bible study friend, who prayed over us and made great friends a few days after our original meeting.

Our first session for the book was at Tony V’s and Moore, a sandwich shop that has sadly closed down. At the time, it was the budding hope in the town of Glassboro. To explain Glassboro, it was like walking into the 1940s that had missed the memo about the civil rights movement, the internet boom, and said, we’re good.

Tony V’s and Moore felt like a throwback to those days at the soda joint. A father and son owned business, serving amazing sandwiches and giving men a meeting ground to enjoy their favorite meals. I loved the concept of Tony V’s, but it turned out that Matt Rich had been a patron for most of his meals. He had a very strict diet, and eating at Tony V’s had been close to his home and fit his needs.

You couldn’t imagine at this time how astounded I felt about meeting Matt Rich. A man who seemingly came from nowhere to me but had been well-known throughout the entire town. Perhaps I was the man who came from nowhere? My girlfriend has recently graduated from Rowan University, and I moved down after coming home to New Jersey from Kent, Ohio.

Well, enough of how we met. Though, I believe it is astounding proof of God’s Design. Our first session was accompanied by Anastasia. It was very frantic, unproductive, and almost ended in an argument. I then realized not what made Matt tick but what made him successful. His spirit was bursting from the seams of his flesh, unfettered by his physical or neurological limitations. He was not a docile, timid, and weak-minded man. He’s sharp, witty, funny, and hot-tempered without any remorse. Without Anastasia to mediate, this book likely would not have existed. I don’t even remember what set Matt off but seeing him so frustrated reminded me I was dealing with another human. It didn’t matter how he was born, the color of his skin, or his temper ha. We were living, feeling, and needed to drastically find a way to build a bridge.

Our next session was not at Tony V’s or mediated by a third party. Instead, I changed the entire format of the sessions, rethought the approach, and pushed to something a bit more intimate. We went to Barnes and Noble, the only true notable architecture supporting the arts and literature in the town aside from the library. It brought a different energy, setting, and ability to communicate without the tight walls of the restaurant or the sanitary silence of the library. Most of the content was recorded inside of Barnes and Noble, using a text-speech app. The app was very helpful to save time on transcribing and losing the message of what Matt said through my own understanding. So, the thoughts you see a fresh and uniquely Matt’s past this point. However, when we finished our sessions and parted our ways, we realized the application used did not feature ANY punctuation.

After all our meetings, time together, and delving deeper into his mind, childhood, experiences, and thoughts of his life. We had no punctuation to hold it all together. This has led to a massive delay. Perhaps if there were a budget to hire an editor, this would have been done in a few months and out to market. Instead, it’s two honest American men trying their best to record their history and preserve their story using little more than their wits and the Holy Spirit. We had no real resources at our disposal aside from each other’s time, experience, and voice. This was our creation out of our time and honest friendship.

I do apologize for the delay because I am sure many were expecting this story two years ago. I did not want to rewrite the story in my own words. I also did not want to lose the meaning of Matt’s original thoughts. This is all true, authentic, and honest.

Warm regards,

Daryl Omar Shabazz

Chapter One

I wanted to write the book because the path that I was on seemed important to tell people. I wanted to talk about the story of what I was living through and am going through.  I was often praying, doing intermittent fasting, doing a lot of yoga, body weight training, and isometrics as well.  I thought I needed to share my story in order to possibly help someone. To possibly have them read my story and learn something on how to make their life better. Something that I have always believed is that my life has been about an opportunity to help others in one way or another; big, small, with a smile and a laugh. This shows people that I’m a guy who uses a wheelchair and crutches, not the apparatus. Just because I use these apparatuses to get around does not mean that it’s going to deter me from moving about or taking on life’s challenges sometimes can be more difficult than the average person.  Sometimes not depending on how much you focus on repetition of a certain activity you’re doing. The more you do something, the better you