Aaron Freeman looks and acts like your typical 19-year-old.  He is healthy, active and focused.  However, every day he battles with an unrelenting personal demon– spina bifida which keeps him in a constant state of pain with the simplest things people take for granted, like walking. Freeman still finds the determination to carry on a “normal” life.

His true passion involves the residents of the Terraces at San Joaquin Valley Gardens where Freeman dedicates his time to serving and caring for the elderly residents.

“I just feel because I’ve gone through it (hospital care) and will continue to go through it, I can help them to feel more comfortable and at ease with their daily routine,” Freeman said. He said he chose the Terraces at San Joaquin Valley Gardens, Central Valley’s first and only continuing care retirement community because he likes the center’s dedication to caring for seniors.

Currently, Freeman works as a resident assistant in the memory care unit at the Terraces.  His job consists of two essential parts, 95 percent of which is encouraging the residents and being compassionate and understanding of their situation; the other five percent is the “hard work”.  This includes cleaning up their rooms, changing their beds, helping them bathe and getting them dressed.

Freeman said, “The void in my heart is filled, and it will be permanently filled as long as I’m caring for people.”  Jessica Lopez, executive director of The Terraces at San Joaquin Valley Gardens, said Freeman does a great job with the residents in the memory care unit.

“Residents light up when he is there to see them,” Lopez said.  “He is filled up by what he does here. Because of that, he is so dedicated.”  Freeman agrees that working in the memory care unit is the best thing he has done.  “It’s a really good feeling that you have that person’s trust.”

He started volunteering there when he was only 8-years-old.  During the summers he worked there, his duties included handing out books, escorting the seniors to events within the facility and completing other small duties.

As young as he was, he had an urge to personally connect with the residents. He would occasionally sneak into their rooms to talk with them, to hear their stories. “I feel compassion and connection to them (the residents),” he said, citing his own experiences as a little boy going through similar humiliating situations while being treated at Valley Children’s Hospital for his spina bifida and other complications.

“All it takes while you are in pain is someone to sit there, hold your hand and make you feel a little more at ease,” Freeman said.

“Aaron is extremely loving and dedicated to our residents.  He has innate compassion beyond his years,” says Jessica Lopez.

Freeman’s childhood was marked by excessive amount of visits to the hospital and physical therapy.  His mother, Carol Freeman, said Aaron had back surgery when he was only eight weeks old.

At birth, Freeman’s spinal cord was wrapped around fatty tissue which needed to be removed.  His mother also said that his neurologist believes he is a “walking miracle” because most children with spina bifida do not have the ability to walk or take care of their basic needs.

Aaron remembers how he was teased in elementary school because of his disability.  He said, however, that those experiences gave him toughness, “the heart of a lion”.

“The lion is tough and fierce, but it’s caring and loving towards its pack.  I feel like that’s how I am,” Freeman says.   Even though people may judge or tease him for his disability, he says he stays emotionally strong. “In five years, I’m going to be doing what you think I can’t do. I’m going to be doing everything that people said I couldn’t do,” he tells himself constantly.

Fortunately, Freeman no longer visits the hospital monthly.  He controls possible infections by a plethora of daily medication which he will have to take the rest of his life.  He also must be conscious of the amount and type of fluids he takes in to keep his kidneys healthy.  People with spina bifida need both kidneys to survive.  Every evening, he performs prescribed physical therapy exercises to help keep his muscles strong.

Freeman is currently a student at Fresno City College working towards his associate of science degree.  Each semester, he carries at least a full time schedule, if not more.  This semester, Freeman is taking English 125, History 12, Political Science and Spanish.  Just like every student there, he goes to class, gets tons of homework and tries to balance it all out.

“I try to stay awake and keep that phone away,” says Freeman.  He plans to transfer to California State University, Fresno in about a year to finish his degree in Registered Nursing.  Freeman said he has been inspired to pursue this degree because he has seen the happiness caring and serving patients can bring nurses. “I want a piece of that happiness,” Freeman says.

“I am very proud of Aaron,” his mother, Carol Freeman, said. She said she always told him, “Just because you have disabilities doesn’t mean you can’t do anything you want.  If you want to be a doctor, you can be a doctor.”

With such a busy life, Freeman still finds time for his other passions – sports, (especially football), his girlfriend and music.

“Aaron has a big heart,” says Carol Freeman. “He would do anything for anybody.”