Brothers In
Arms
Adversity can either tear you apart or bring you
closer together, in the case of the Kemp brothers Nash, 10 and Tate, 8 it
brought them closer.
Nash Kemp is your average tween, but when life
confronted him with a brother who has Cerebral Palsy (CP), he couldn’t be more
proud and their strong brotherly bond is enviable.
Nash has openly said he would trade places with
his brother if he could, but in hindsight it couldn’t have worked out in a
better way. The hand that fate dealt them is in fact the one which allows them
to play to their individual strengths. Nash has his compassion, and Tate his
strength of will, each is a hero in the other’s eyes and their love for one
another is obvious.
Nash is quite involved in Tate’s life, he reads
Tate a bedtime story every night as well as helping him out when their mum is
at the shops and their dad is at work; wherever Tate goes, Nash goes.
Despite his CP Tate continued to dream big, with
big brother Nash by his side, he sought therapy through the Melbourne Cerebral
Palsy Centre then went on to train for, and run the Melbourne marathon. The
gates were shut when he finished the first time, but the second time he ended
up completing it 2 hours faster. This was all thanks to Tate’s continuing
training; running the streets of Melbourne while Nash rode beside him,
encouraging him along the way.
When Sue and John Kemp were told that their
newborn son, Tate, was shown to have brain damage on the MRI scan, they endured
every parent’s worst heartache. Worse still was having to wait 2 years to find
out exactly what they were dealing with.
Little did they know just how much of a hero their
son would become, defying all the odds to achieve so much in just 8 short
years. The marathon is just the start; Tate can also water-ski standing up,
attends a public school and tops his class at maths.
Sue tries to not look too far ahead, taking life
one month at a time because they don’t know what the future will bring for
Tate, but for now she can’t help but sit back and admire the unbreakable bond
her sons share together. Despite having the usual parental concerns, she never
ceases to make sure Tate knows how much the whole family believes in him, as
well as how proud they are of him, and I have to admire Sue’s bravery.
When almost 5 year-old Tate asked her the question
that would break any mother’s heart: “Am I still going to have CP when I’m 5?”
she replied “Yes, you’ll have it your whole life but I’ll always be here to
support you, no matter what it takes.”
One thing’s for sure, no matter where life takes
Tate next, Nash will be right by his side, urging him on, saying: “He’s more of
a superhero than I’ll ever be.”
I would encourage you to watch this clip below https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7X-_1iPPTQ
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