July 11 may be just a normal day for most people, but for me, it was the day that changed my life. Two years ago, I had a car accident where I dislocated my skull from my spine and woke up paralyzed from the neck down. I worked very hard in therapy and made a lot of progress over the next year, even taking 60 steps! Then, last year on July 10, I was having headaches and losing movement so I had to have a shunt revision (the shunt was placed to drain fluid off of my brain.) During surgery, my thalamus was bruised and I lost all the movement that I had worked so hard for. The normal recovery stay for a shunt surgery is 24 hours so I expected to be out of the hospital in time to celebrate living another year. Instead, I was there for almost a month and I went to Shepherd’s Center in Atlanta for six more weeks of therapy. I still haven’t gotten back to as strong as I was, but I am getting there and I will keep working until I am. Then, I will make a new goal and work until I reach that one.

This year, I’m celebrating!!! I’m celebrating a year without shunt surgeries, getting stronger, and living to enjoy the ordinary things that make life extraordinary!