Jenna is a very sweet 17 year old and a typical teen in every way.  Because of her many illnesses, surgeries and the loss of a younger brother, Jenna has developed a genuine compassion for others. Jenna ended up having scoliosis and while they were correcting the scoliosis, a tumor was dislodged which caused a partial stoke. Jenna is now a partial paraplegic and was told by the doctor that she would never walk again. Jenna has baffled many doctors and medical professionals over her life time which has added to her resolve to walk once more. To encourage this hope we wrote a song sharing her struggles and victories with a pinch of finger wagging in the face of those who might have unknowingly stolen her spark. The lyrics proclaim “I want to walk again, I’m gonna walk again, yes I am I am, well the doctors said I never would, but I am, but I am, but I am”.

**The Writing Process

Jenna has some learning disabilities so we took it slow, I had the chorus idea and showed it to Jenna, she loved it. I asked Jenna to give me some words that would describe her desire to walk, how she feels about being in a wheelchair, what are the difficulties of learning to walk and what has inspired her to keep trying. We took those words and went to the rhyming dictionary and found all the words that would help Jenna tell her story and wrote the lyrics together. I asked Jenna to give me a little melody that was different from the chorus and what we finally came up with was a collaboration of notes, musical ideas, fun times and hopes.

**The Recording Process/Media Project

My son, two young musician friends, guitar player husband and I are waiting for the final mix to be complete. It will be interesting to see how it all falls together. I have been doing some short video clips of Jenna working with her PT, OT, and our recording sessions. I am excited about the finished product, how it will encourage Jenna to keep climbing her mountain and how it might provide inspiration to other young people who have their own set of difficult circumstances.

We have a pipe dream of the Jonas Brothers(Jenna is ga ga over them) singing it at one of their shows and having Jenna and other young people with disabilities part of the production.

Some of the words

When I wear by braces,

I see the look on your faces

When I get up, it’s really tough,

The prize for me, is at the end

So I try and I try and I try again

Stay Tuned: If all works out, it will be available for viewing @ The Singing Nurse YouTube channel.

Anyone have any connections to the Jonas Brothers ?