

Where do you think your tendency to view the world this way comes from?



I really hit the jackpot when it comes to my family. My brothers and I were always brought up that when the going gets tough, the tough get going, but also to really shoot for the stars, to believe in the impossible. My parents were both self-made. My dad was brought up in poverty, and was the first person in his family to go to college. He changed his trajectory. Both my parents shifted their trajectory and created something together. When I was five years old, I told my mom I was going to be an Olympian and win a gold medal. She was like, “Okay, if you work hard, then you know we’re going to support you.”



I was cognitively not communicating with people for four years, but in those four years I paid attention. I paid attention to my parents, my brothers, how they were just continuing to fight for me and believe in me, and so I couldn’t help but follow suit.



I think you are who you surround yourself with. The people that I’ve surrounded myself with really motivate me and inspire me, and that’s what they did in those four years. When they had every reason to not be positive, when they had every reason to not have hope, they did. I think that’s really what gave me the strength, but also taught me so much about fighting — just paying attention to my family.



Do you even believe in the idea of “disadvantage,” or do you think it’s all a matter of perspective?



It’s for sure a matter of perspective. I think you are the writer of that. You are the person that defines that, not anyone else.



I think for me, a turning point was actually when I was about three and a half years into this vegetative state, and I was like, “Oh, my God, this is insane. I don’t want to do this anymore.” I knew if I continued to give in to these negative thoughts, if I continued to give in to what was being said around me with every odd that doctors were giving and the unknown of whether or not I was going to wake up tomorrow … I needed something to shift my perspective.



I started to focus on the things I did have to be grateful for, starting with the mere fact that I had complete and clear brain capacity, when according to everyone else, I shouldn’t. Building this list of gratitude from literally rock bottom really shifted my perspective. Which then created a lot of hope that maybe things could get better, that maybe I could be that one in a billion that makes it through.



That hope for what I would be able to do as opposed to negativity toward what I couldn’t do in the current moment was huge for me. I think perspective is everything. I think it’s easy to lose it. I still lose it from time to time, especially with all the craziness going on right now. Because doom and gloom is easy, but having hope and believing in the impossible is where the work comes in. It’s obviously a hard time to do that right now, but when you really dig your heels in and do it, it can make a world of difference. It can literally turn something impossible into possible.