DOB: March 16th, 1988
DOI: August 2019 (diagnosis)
Injury: SCA3 (Spinocerebellar Ataxia 3)
Growing up in Lewisville, TX, Keenan was big into football. He played both offensive and defensive line, leaning out in high school, but still able to hit hard. When he was 14, his father was diagnosed with Ataxia, a degenerative disease of the nervous system and Keenan started to see the effects early on with his father no longer able to do active things like play basketball with him.
Keenan had his first child at 18 years old, entering the workforce after graduating high school. He worked for a few years before joining the Army. His boot camp was at Fort Benning in Georgia where became an infantryman. After receiving word that he was going to be stationed in Germany, Keenan made the tough decision to leave the military in order to take full custody of his daughter. In 2010, he re-entered the workforce selling cars, transitioning to become an IT recruiter shortly after. He went through a few job shifts during that time, but today continues to work as an IT recruiter.
Keenan watched his father’s journey with Ataxia progress through the years, going from using a cane, to a walker, to a wheelchair, to a motorized scooter. It was incredibly tough watching his father regress. In 2018, Keenan’s father passed away, ultimately from the Ataxia taking a toll on him. Less than a year later, in August of 2019, at the age of 31, Keenan was diagnosed with the same form of Ataxia.
After the passing of his father and Keenan’s own diagnosis, he fell into a deep hole of depression and addiction. He used drugs as a way to escape from the reality of his situation. In June of 2020, Keenan slowly but steadily started turning his life around, focusing on discovering who he is now.
Throughout the ReDefine program, Keenan is looking to continue his mindset shift. He’s choosing to reinforce the things he can do, instead of focusing the negative. Beyond the class, Keenan wants to keep encouraging and educating others on Ataxia through his foundation, the Sir Ron Foundation, named after his father.
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