Stronger

Looking back at the age of nine, I had no worries at all. Cheerleading was my passion at the time. I would go to school, then practice, and come home. It was an everyday routine. I could only do cheerleading if I had good grades, and boy did I study hard.

Every day I would walk into the gym and practice my heart out. I had games every Sunday. Perfection was the key! Even when practice was over, I would go home and practice even more. But one day that all came to an end.

After school, I was so excited about practice as always. We started stretching, but little did I know that perfect day was going to flip around real quick. I did a jump and didn't land as well as I hoped. I could get up, my leg went numb.

I cried for help and the coaches ran over to me knowing something was wrong. The coaches tried everything they could to help me. At first, they thought it was just a bad pulled muscle. They rubbed and rubbed my leg. I was screaming in pain. That's when the coaches knew something wasn't right! They called my mother to pick me up. I needed medical attention. She took me straight to the emergency room. The radiologist took X-rays of my leg, and sure enough it was broken.

I had to be sent to another hospital for surgery, because the hospital I went to couldn't do it. So off in an ambulance I went. My mom was in the passenger seat. She never left my side. After being in the hospital for a week getting my leg fixed, I finally got to come home, or at least that's what I thought. The doctor told me the only way I could go home was in an ambulance. Even though I wanted my dad to take me. So, down the elevator we went.

I was on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance. My mom still by my side in the passenger seat. We were heading home. The ambulance driver got tired and fell asleep. At that moment, my life changed in the blink of an eye! The ambulance crashed into a cliff. It killed my mother, the woman I looked up to, my best friend was gone forever. I had many broken bones, fractures and was in a coma for two months. I have memory loss still to this day.

I didn't even know what happened. My father had to tell me about my mother's passing. I couldn't understand what he was telling me at first then he explained what happens. I missed her funeral from being in the hospital. My tenth birthday was a week after the accident. For the longest time, I blamed myself. I stayed so depressed and took it out on a lot of people; even my loved ones. I was young and didn't understand.

Now that I have gotten older, I understand that life is a gift and some gifts are so special, they want them back. I still look back at pictures wondering what she would have looked like. If she would be proud of the woman I have become. The heartache and pain I have suffered for the longest time has made me become a stronger woman than I have ever known.

Everyday that passes by, I always wish I could see her just one more time. I catch myself staring at her picture multiple times throughout the day. I believe in this life everything happens for a reason. I think my reason on Earth is to tell people what has happened to me and show them how it has made me into the person I am today.