MWS Family of the Month: The Sell Family

John and Wendy are the parents of Christian and Justin Sell.  Christian is 29 and was diagnosed with MWS at 23 ½.  Justin is 26 and his brother’s biggest advocate. John is a member of the MWS Foundation board and he and his wife Wendy have made it their life’s devotion to support both their children. The foundation published a story about them in 2017 (click here to access the article) with some links to some very endearing videos.   To go along with that article and its embedded videos, we are featuring the Sell’s in this month’s MWSF newsletter to showcase their efforts to fully integrate and include Christian in every possible way.

 

 

 

 

Christian is fortunate enough to have enough language to support his love to be on stage and sing karaoke. The family loves and attends many hockey games and live concerts. For Christian it is more about meeting the band members and getting a picture with them than the actual concert. Over the years they have become friends with a number of bands, and he loves hanging out with them before and after the show.

 

 

 

This year, after being a fan for 29 years, Christian has become a fully registered USA hockey PLAYER and member of the Central Vermont Pioneers Sled Hockey team. With support from his cousin Francis and his brother, he is no longer a bystander.  The Sells have put up a Facebook page to allow people to follow Christian’s newest adventure:

 Passion! What is passion? When you have a disability, you often WATCH others participate, engage and succeed in what, in your heart, you want for yourself. After 29 years, all of that changed and became REAL for Christian. Christian, MWS and all, is an officially registered USA hockey PLAYER and member of the Central Vermont Pioneers Sled Hockey team. THIS! Is what life is all about! We created this page to help promote the team, allow others to easily follow him, and to showcase INCLUSION. https://www.facebook.com/Dreams-Do-Come-True…/…

 

When Christian was in 11th grade, the family made a slideshow to share with his sister-class in Thailand to document “the life of a special needs child in Vermont”. The video is updated every year and presented annually to the Special Educator Conference in the State of Vermont. Christian and his family have created a YouTube channel, where you can find more videos of Christian and learn what he has been up to lately.