Local Man Recalls Fond Memory He Had With Nancy Reagan
PHILDELPHIA (CBS) - As the country mourns Nancy Reagan, a New Jersey man remembers a unique moment he had with the former First Lady 30 years ago.
Rob Zastavny was born with Spina Bifida, a birth defect that left him paralyzed from the waist down.
In 1977, he served as a poster child for the March of Dimes, and in 1981, during the International Year of the Disabled Persons, he was welcomed to the White House.
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"They wanted to gather all the former poster children for March of Dimes from the beginning to the current one," he tells KYW Newsradio.
That's where he met Nancy Reagan, who he says was quietly sitting alone at the reception:
"For whatever reason, I just went up to her and said, 'hey Mrs. Reagan, I'm Robbie-- nice to meet you'."
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He was just ten years old at the time.
"That was kind of a cool thing, looking back now as an adult," Zastavny says.
And now, he reflects on the memory with pride:
"It's kind of like a double edged sword, it's like I wouldn't have had the experience if I wasn't handicapped, the upside to an otherwise negative situation of you know being handicapped or whatever -- but it just afforded me the experience that I otherwise wouldn't have had."