Antonio “Tony” Torres is a man with spina bifida, but he is still very active and gets his hands in just about everything. Torres is a freelance writer, children’s book author, graphic artist, and a multimedia enthusiast. His children’s book “Jimmy Wheelz” has just been published and is available for purchase on Amazon.com.

  Torres was born with spina bifida and has been in and out of hospitals nearly all of his life. He told me about one particular hospital visit when he was 16 years old, “I was stuck in a hospital and I really did not want to be there and I did something I shouldn’t and I escaped from the hospital. In the hospital there were a lot of tunnels so I ended up coming to a place called Bookers Creek; I went exploring and of course everyone at the hospital is freaking out because you’re not supposed to leave the floor, let alone the hospital, but I found this clearing. I was in a depressed sort of state, and I just started writing and I haven’t let it go.”

  “Jimmy Wheelz” is about a boy with spina bifida and the was to face the challenges of life. He is much like Torres when he was growing up. Torres plans to write more stories about “Jimmy Wheelz” in the future.

  Aside from writing books, Torres also does stunts with his wheelchair. At the event, he put on a show for everyone during lunch and demonstrated a few of his moves. Torres said, “I always used to do tricks. I would always break my wheelchair because of the tricks. My mom would tell me ‘you have to keep the front wheels on the floor, you never keep them on the floor’ and I would always tell her that it was no fun like that. I think that if you are going to be in a wheelchair, then you might as well have fun with it.” He does various events throughout St. Petersburg and wants to eventually go to Puerto Rico where he lived for five years.

  Torres also worked with disabled people in Puerto Rico. When he was living there, he got involved in a group called EclécticO Internacional, a group that puts on shows with disabled and abled bodied people. The group does things like singing, dancing, acting, and many other things to help spread the word of the abilities of disabled people. He says that the organization is really underfunded in Puerto Rico, so he tries to help as much as possible.

  His next project is translating “Jimmy Wheelz” into Spanish, and bringing it to Puerto Rico using his connections and friends there.

  Torres advises, “staying moving is very important because if you don’t move than what are you doing? You got to keep the body moving.”