( CNN ) -- Finding stability in my life has been a problem . I grew up on the 500 block of Lincoln Heights in Washington . When I was 1 month old , my mother abandoned me . She left me with a man whom I grew up to call my father . I was left with this man so that he could take care of me . Instead , he paid other people to take care of me . He came around as much as he could to spend quality time with me , whether it was going to a park , going out for dinner or reading at the library . He tried with all his might to be there for me . But I soon began living in a real nightmare . My childhood was rough . Oftentimes I felt alone , depressed . I even battled with thoughts of committing suicide because I felt no one really cared for me . There were nights when I ran away from the homes that had taken me in . I would go for walks and just cry because I did n't understand what I did wrong to deserve this childhood . When I was 10 , I began to receive negative vibes about my living situation . I called my father and asked if he could pick me up and remove me from the home in which I was staying . The next day , my nightmare became a reality . I was shot . As I slept on the couch , my caretaker 's grandson discharged a 12-gauge shotgun . The pellets fired through the wall and accidentally hit me in my spinal cord and right shoulder . All of a sudden , I could n't really move my right shoulder . I thought my life would be over soon . This is not what I wanted . I sat there bleeding , convinced that my time on earth would be cut short . My surroundings led me to think that I would become a victim of my own nightmare . I believed that this was the last day of my life because I could n't survive the way I was living . Thankfully , I made it to hospital , and even though I was fading in and out , I survived . During my time in the hospital , I had to learn to walk again and move my right shoulder , which was temporally paralyzed . I was discharged from the hospital and sent to live with someone else who my father thought was able to take care of me . Two weeks after staying in that household , I was placed in the District 's foster care system . I was labeled a neglect case . Even though I was finally getting help , I felt even more alone after being taken away from my father . Years later , my mother would be found , only to turn down the opportunity to take custody of me . Two years after I was shot , the only person who ever cared for me died of cancer . At that moment , I lost the one person who meant the world to me , my father , Thomas McRae Sr. A DNA test later proved that the man that I thought was my father really was n't . Eventually I would be placed at the Boys Town group home in Washington under the leadership of Hubert and Chauna Geter , who revealed to me what the meaning of true love , patience and nourishment truly means . Because of their support I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel . I lived in a total of 22 households before I was adopted by my close friend 's mom , Joi Morris . That 's when I knew that everything in my life was supposed to happen . I realized that you have to go through hell to find heaven . This summer , I had the pleasure of interning on Capitol Hill under Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland for the Congressional Coalition on Adoptions Institute 's Foster Youth Internship Program . For the first time in my life , I spent two months around people who had battled what I battled and was overcome by their testimony . Now I want to share my experiences with the world and help out anyone who is , or was , like me . I also feel the responsibility to give back to the city that birthed me , Washington , and I vow to do exactly that .
Thomas McRae lived in 22 different homes after being abandoned by his parents . In one house , he was accidentally shot by his caretaker 's grandson . McRae was eventually adopted ; he now plans to help other kids in foster care .