Don't Underestimate Determination

Hello,

My musing today is about the power of perseverance and determination.

Here goes the story....

My daughter had a significant accident while snow tubing on a school outing. One of the kids was breaking the rules (a faculty kid) and caused the injury. The injury itself involved the labral which is within the shoulder housing. It helps keep the rotator cuff in place. Up until the accident, my daughter was a star swimmer. She was one week shy of championships for the season and was seeded 1st and 2nd in two events. She was a lean, mean, swimming machine. The injury immediately caused her to be dropped from the championships. She was told by the shoulder specialists that she might never swim again. The doctors refused to clear her for sports so she had to sit on the bench for the next 10 months. She was destined to be a couch potato!

The poor kid had to wear a sling for months, endured numerous tests, met with many doctors, and survived through 10 months of rehabilitation. At the last meeting, the pediatric shoulder specialist from Children's hospital said that her injury was the worst possible kind, had about a 20% success rate if they tried to operate, and basically she was deemed to have a permanent disability. I was sad because I knew how much swimming meant to her. You can only imagine the thoughts going through my head~ I wanted justice, I wanted the girl to pay for what she did to my kid. Bitter, unkind thoughts filled my head, I was burdened by anger.

Not so with my daughter, she was a kind, tender hearted person, and acted like she was the adult. She was the one who had to comfort me and tell me that justice wasn't necessary. How had the roles gotten reversed? She went on to say that she never even told the girl that she was responsible for the injury. I asked why, and her answer was astounding, "mom, how do you think the girl would live with herself knowing she caused me so much pain?" I sat stunned, in silence, staring at her, pondering her words. My child was compassionate, a trait we don't see much of anymore. I learned from her that day.

The specialist said that because the injury couldn't get worse, she should try whatever sport she wanted to see if she could handle the pain. So, my kid went for it and started swimming again. She started gradually, one event only. The first time she got on the block I was petrified. I watched in horror as she had to place her dislocated shoulder back in place just before the race. Fear and panic was winning in my mind, I wanted to run and pull her off the block and tell her you can't do that, you might get hurt!!! She was determined to swim again, and swim she did! She not only swam the race without further injury, she won the race! My head was screaming OMG OMG OMG look at her!! Tears misted my eyes, could this really be happening? The next meet, she did fantastic and set a new team record. Then at the next meet she won her event and set another team record in a different event. So much for the pessimism of the doctors, so much for my fear. And yeah to the power of determination to push beyond what others thought was impossible.