Robert Kapen

Robert Kapen is a 3x best-selling author. Here is his story in his words:

I was blessed to grow up in sunny So. LA County. I remember a neighborhood of mostly boys, so we always played sports. I have an older brother, which only added to the competition factor. I also remember that as a kid my dad loved working with his hands, fishing, and hockey. There was always a project going on, a game on the tv, or a camping trip planned. For my 6th birthday I remember getting a bb gun, a dirtbike, and a baseball glove ( baseball is bigger than hockey on the west coast, and the hockey gear would come later). As far as religion, we only did nightly prayers and the occasional trip to my G-ma’s church.

Now I’m going into middle school. Man, that was so awkward! Trying to fit in and finding a group to hang out with. Oh yea also trying to figure out who you are and what kind of person you want to be. I always had sports as my sanctuary. Same in high school except I had a better understanding of “self” also around this time I found my love for the LA Angels and Anaheim Ducks. Sophomore year I quit baseball and jumped into the workforce. This unknowingly freed me up to do extracurricular activities after school and non-workdays ultimately finding the youth organization Younglife.

Younglife was and is a huge part of my life because when I joined I gained a community of friends I didn’t realize I was secretly longed for. In that time I found myself and I noticed my shell started breaking. I became more confident and out-going. The best part was during that time they started showing me a person that was my brother, my friend, my father, and my guide in this crazy life. He is God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. This lead me to sign-up for summer camp. It was a week of activities, being the athlete I am, I dove right in. But the point of the camp was to take a deeper look at God. I didn’t realize this at first so it just took me year longer to accept Christ offer of forgiveness, redemption, and peace.

At this point in my life, I’m enjoying it very much with a new “self”, a great job working for the city, and I was a leader with Younglife. The only issue which really wasn’t that big was, I still needed to complete my schooling. This lead me to going to a school in Arizona, Northern Arizona University to be exact. For a bachelor’s in Arts and Crafts… cough cough… I mean Parks and Recreaction. Without a community are deep roots in my faith I enjoyed the college scene, but I saw that it was pointless and unfulfilling. I then got back into Younglife with Younglife College. I also found a really small part-time job running the ropes course, zip line, and giant swing. This lead to me doing that at summer camp where my life was flipped on it’s head.

One morning I woke with a numbness on my right side, but it was early so I just went back to bed. I then woke up for breakfast but still had the numbness. After breakfast I was the, I guess “supervisor” for the lack of a better term. I over saw the other college kids running the ropes activities because in the winter I got a cert to be an operator. It finally hit me, and I said enough is enough and went to urgent care. With my symptoms slowly getting worse they ambulance me to Pheonix where a Mayo clinic was. Just missed out on the helicopter ride dang! With a bunch of testing being done they still couldn’t find a diagnosis. Then they shipped me off to Cali to the UCLA hospital. With a little So Cal riveralry I jokingly say if I went to the USC hospital they would have found answers. So ultimately UCLA didn’t find a diagnosis either. Then I was sent to rehab after rehab til finally I was released and left to improve quality of life on my own.

So I did! I’ve been doing speech, physical, and occupational therapy since, until Covid. Doctors still don’t know what happened. The best description I’ve heard is an unknown virus attacked my brain stem causing a bi-lateral stroke (stroke on both sides of my brain). And this left me paralyzed from the chin down and unable to speak. I have just gotten comfortable in my new body and I really don’t see the need for a diagnosis. God has brought me on this journey through the mountains and valleys and even though at first, when I was in the deepest valley and couldn’t see the light there was still hope and peace through Christ. I wouldn’t change anything because I’ve seen so much good come from the whole journey. I know it just didn’t happen by a multitude of coincidences it happened so a loving father can get me into a place where only His glory, peace, and supernatural strength could be on display.

Again one of my books (Kapen: Yells of a Quiet Young Man) does a great job filling in the gaps of my story, consider buying it and letting me know what you think in a review. It's great for teens and small groups.