As a newspaper photographer for nearly 30 years I find inspiration in many things. I met 9-year-old Gilbert John during a recent assignment at Ashley House, a home for medically fragile kids in Enumclaw. He's lived at the facility most of his life after breaking his neck at 18 months old. Now, a quadriplegic, Gilbert is tethered to a ventilator and confined to a wheelchair.

You might think I felt pity or some other emotion for Gilbert but his spirit and happy-go-lucky personality overwhelmed that impulse. He doesn't seem to view himself as limited or disadvantaged. He's focused and engaged in the here and now whether he's playing Hot Wheels, video games or making jokes at the staff's expense.

And watching Gilbert play video games was fascinating and inspriring in its own right. Without feeling or movement below his neck, Gilbert relies on a headset and a straw-like plastic mouthpiece to play the game. By moving his head from side to side and puffing or sucking on the mouthpiece Gilbert animates the digital hotrods through their breakneck course.

Gilbert is blessed to call Ashley House his home and the staff his family.

Foss High School cheerleader Bianca Gonzaga kept an close eye on the scoreboard during a recent tournament game with Federal Way. Gonzaga can also keep an close eye this Wednesday, March, 4, 2009, as photographer Lui Kit Wong will have galleries on all 16 games of the WIAA 4A State Championship games at the Tacoma Dome.