Mata smiles as his mother reads her hand written Mother's Day card. "Did I tell you how old my mom is?" Mata asked, "She''s 50, but doesn't even look it, does she?" Throughout the school year, Mata will call his mother every Sunday morning to talk to her.
Mada walks his dog, Shadow, on the sidewalk of his apartment complex. "I try to get out and walk him at least twice a day, but I don't really walk him as much as he pulls me along," Mada says. I the beginning, his parents were nervous about him being able to handle having a dog, but once they saw the two of them together, those reservations went away. Mada has had Shadow for about two years now and loves him "like he was my own kid".
Mata sits at his desk and watches scenes from the movie “Good Will Hunting” on Saturday, May 7, 2016. The movie was one of the reason, on top of his life experiences, that made Mata want to become a counselor.
Mata attempts to vacuum his room in Campus Pointe apartments on Saturday, May 7, 2016. With graduation that coming Friday, Mata and his two roommates began cleaning their apartment for their parents arrivals that week. Although he struggles with some things, Mata was able to handle most of his cleaning on his own.
Mata waits in the front seat of Gary and MarcyMcFadyen’s car on Sunday, May 8, 2016 as Gary loads his wheelchair into the trunk. Mata receives a ride to church with the MsFadyen’s each Sunday morning for Mass.
Mata receives communion at St. Joseph Catholic Church on Sunday, May 8, 2016. "I think that people tend to forget that religion is a very personal thing," Mata says.
Gary McFadyen of Bowling Green works on Mata's wheelchair outside of Mata's apartment after returning home from church. McFadyen has a PhD in Engineering and has worked with building equipment for the disabled. "He could build a chair himself, so if anything is wrong with mine he knows how to fix it," says Mata.
While waiting for his friend Gary McFadyen to finish applying WD40 to his wheelchair to help it move more smoothly, Mada rests on his living room couch on.