Meeting Mattie Stepanek
From the moment she heard his story, Oprah has wanted to meet 11-year-old Mattie Stepanek. Mattie was born with a rare form of muscular dystrophy. To get around, he needs a wheelchair and oxygen. Yet Mattie has never let his disease keep him down: He earned a junior black belt in martial arts while tethered to an oxygen tank; and despite being just 11 years old, he home-schools at the level of a high school junior.
But Mattie's real gift is for poetry. "I write to express my thoughts, my feelings," he says. "I want people to think."
But Mattie's real gift is for poetry. "I write to express my thoughts, my feelings," he says. "I want people to think."
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