Dustin Barton’s story is one of perseverance and determination. APR student reporter Keith Huffman has more on the surgery that changed his life since he was 12 years old and how that experience influenced his will to succeed…
Doctors told Dustin Barton he had a large benign tumor from the right side of his brain. That was sixteen years ago…
“Like somebody took a line and drew it down the center of your forehead all the way down to your toes. My muscles and my nerves are different over here.”
The operation saved Dustin’s life. However, it also resulted with considerable paralysis on the left side of his body, impacting the mobility in his left leg. His left hand likewise curled into a clenched fist, and his peripheral vision was also impaired in both eyes. Additionally, his nerves became hypersensitive on the left side of his body.
Dustin has worked to gain more independence. He now has a limited range of motion.
“Biggest thing with that would probably be just maneuvering around and doing things like going to reach for something. I have to shift my body or whatever. But it throws my balance off and it kind of affects my walking.”
Dustin and his family knew something was wrong when he was just eleven years old.
“He would get just kind of in a stare.”
Dustin’s mother, Myra Barton, remembers witnessing her son’s peculiar seizures, which at first seemed like a child misbehaving.
“There’d be times that, you know, it be like a little child sittin’ there with their, holding their breath like, ‘I’m not gonna answer you,’ you know, or whatever, but it wasn’t like he fell out in the floor or anything like that.”
The Barton family soon learned it was very serious. Dustin says his seizures could be triggered by multiple things, including anxiety.
“If I would get too hot playing outside or different smells that I wasn’t used to being around or whatever. Just stuff like that.”
Myra says her son’s seizures gradually got worse and became more frequent. That prompted a visit to his pediatrician. And that led to a neurologist. It turned out that Dustin’s seizures were being caused by a large tumor on the right side of his brain.
Dustin underwent emergency surgery to remove the tumor weeks later. He was 12 years old at the time.
“It was kind of frightening or whatever, but I prayed about it and everything and, uh, I really wasn’t that scared, man, um, when I had it, went into surgery and everything. I was really pretty calm.”
When he awoke, Dustin couldn’t move the left side of his body. He required intensive physical therapy during his hospital stay and after he went home. He also needed help from others with the little things. Eating, bathing, and getting dressed every day. Then there was learning how to walk all over again.
“It was frustrating at the time, man. Being a kid, you know, you want to run around, play with your friends, but you’re stuck in a wheelchair. Probably the biggest thing was having to rely on people.”
Dustin says it was embarrassing. Still, he tried to stay optimistic.
“I got a no-quit attitude, man. I mean, I’m not gonna sit down and not live life, you know.”
“Pretty much they was showing him how he was gonna have to do things with that one hand.”
That’s Dustin’s father, Charley. He remembers Dustin’s physical therapy.
“They had some good ideas and everything, and he caught on pretty good.”
Sixteen years since his surgery, Dustin’s optimism persists. He lives in a single-wide trailer next door to his parents. He lives on disability, along with what he makes working part-time as a cook at Jack’s restaurant in Aliceville.
“Well, I run the fryer and switch back and forth to the grill and everything. But, uh, it’s basically you can do it one-handed and everything. It’s just real fast-paced so sometimes I do get behind, but I work with some pretty cool people that know my situation and help me out.”
His family and others drive him to and from work. Patience has been a major factor throughout his experiences. He says his determination is fueled by the outlook of demonstrating self-sufficiency.
“Just showing people that – they look at me like I can’t do something, so I try to prove ’em wrong, really.”
Based on what he has experienced, Dustin offers an inspiring message.
“Man, there’s all kinds of things you could tell people, but simplest term I can put it in is, ‘Don’t give up.’”