"The only option is to live your life": West Port senior wrestles through cerebral palsy
West Port senior Christopher Galiano was winning on the scoreboard two rounds into a recent wrestling match at DeLand High School. Entering the third round, his opponent found an advantage, going for his legs.
Christopher wouldn’t let his first career win slip away. He flipped his opponent, pinned him, and waited for his hand to be raised.
“It was an ecstatic moment,” Christopher said. “It was my favorite wrestling moment.”
Galiano’s grandmother, Theresa Gonzalez, was there to witness it. Her cheers nearly sent her over the railing surrounding the gym’s upper deck.
Christopher’s win is more than an athletic success for the Galiano family. It didn’t go unnoticed by his teammates and the West Port wrestling family either. Theresa celebrated with another crying parent who understood what Christopher had overcome by wrestling with cerebral palsy.
“The first day he was born, I couldn’t hold him, but it came close to that feeling,” Theresa said. “He’s my first grandson, so you can imagine.”
Wrestling with life from the start
The road to Galiano’s win is full of transformation. Christopher was born nine weeks premature and with cerebral palsy. The disorders, which affect body movement, balance and posture, led to a two-month stay in a neonatal intensive care unit and an emergency surgery four days after his birth.
By the third grade, he had undergone the first of four surgeries to lengthen his leg muscles, rotate his ankles, and repair his hip. The procedures led to him missing half of the school year. After Christopher recovered and doctors removed his full body casts, he celebrated by diving into the pool.
By all accounts, the Galiano family treats Christopher as it does every other family member, and he’s bought into the mindset. When the family moved to Ocala from Miami, Christopher didn’t compete in sports but was always active. His father, Daniel Galiano, recalls him picking up logs and bricks and carrying them across the yard like a young Paul Bunyan.
“The only option is to live your life,” Christopher said. “What am I going to do? Recede and not be the best thing I can be? I’d rather try hard and maybe make it farther than people without problems like me. So I’d rather just keep going and learning.”
Christopher took another step in that growth when he took the mat as a junior. It was the first sport he competed in at the high school level, and he tackled it the way any wrestler would.
Though Christopher was active, wrestling shape is another level of fitness. He entered the season with a disdain for running and couldn’t jump. By the end of that season, he ran a mile every other day and did burpees.
“He’s been building on his body and really taking care of himself, and he has no limitations,” said his mother, Aimee Galiano. “He’s been awesome in that sense. He’s stronger than us in many ways.”
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In a sport where balance and control are key, Christopher would seem to not fit in.
Wrestling has put Christopher through tests that he wouldn’t have faced. He’s recovered from injuries on the same legs that were surgically repaired when he was younger. He always prioritized his health and maintained a processed sugar-free diet, but he doubled down to stay in fighting shape.
“I like wrestling a lot because I can push myself much further than if I didn’t do it,” Christopher said. “I like to do it because it’s hard. It’s very difficult. It’s for me to do things I wouldn’t normally do because I have this.”
More importantly, it’s allowed him to face adversity from his opponents and himself. Christopher faced a rough patch to start his wrestling career and, like any highly dedicated athlete, it hurt to not find success after working towards a goal.
Yet he chose wrestling, knowing it would push him.
“Being able to come back and not being discouraged is a big part of it, too,” Christopher said. “You’re able to build a better mentality for yourself overall. It’s going to help you in way more ways than wrestling. It can help you in your life.”
In a similar way, wrestling chose Christopher as well. The perseverance and maturation he’s shown is essential to the DNA of a wrestler.
With every lock up and roll, he’s proven that physical toughness is important, but mental toughness will always separate you from the crowd.
Couple that with his willingness to work hard, and you have a person who's ready to compete in every aspect of life.
“It’s been wonderful,” West Port wrestling coach Paul Dodge said. “He’s hardworking, full of heart, has a lot of tenacity, is always present, is always in a good mood, always wrestles and gives 100%. He’s just a good kid, and he’s going to do big things in the future.”
This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: West Port wrestler Christopher Galiano gets first win despite cerebral palsy
