I’m rounding the second to last corner. I feel the adrenaline kick in. I’m 60 feet away from the championship. My friends and family are out there cheering. I ride up the last jump to win when suddenly….. I’m hit from the back, I feel myself flying of my bike, I’m so high in the air yelling at the top of my lungs but nothing is coming out. Then, I hit the ground. There is a loud ringing in my head. My parents start to run out but are stopped by security. A voice says for me to stay still and to relax. He says that I’m going to be okay. Then everything gets quieter and quieter as I start to blackout.

Today was one of the biggest days of my riding career. I’m in the qualifying race for the championship. The championship is in 3 months. If I win I’m in, if I don’t I’m out. I only have a couple of riders to really worry about. As we pull up to the track, I see riders fixing their bikes having fun and I just think about how amazing this is. I start to look around at all of the trees and surroundings. It’s the middle of fall and all of the trees are red, orange, yellow and green. There’s a golden glow to it. I’m amazed by it. It looks like a painting. I set up in the gate waiting for the gate to lower and for the race to start. The gates go down, we’re off. About 5 laps in I get into first place. It feels awesome to see know one in front of me. Before I know it I’m going up the jump to go on the last lap. Soon I realize I’m rounding the second to last corner. I feel the adrenaline kick in. I’m 60 feet away from the championship. My friends and family are out there cheering. I ride up the last jump to win when suddenly….. I’m hit from the back, I feel myself flying of my bike, I’m so high in the air yelling at the top of my lungs but nothing is coming out. Then, I hit the ground. There is a loud ringing in my head. My parents start to run out but are stopped by security. A voice says for me to stay still and to relax. He says that I’m going to be okay. Then everything gets quieter and quieter as I start to blackout.
Next thing I know, I wake up in a hospital bed. I see my older brother and sister with my parents. They are all asleep. Then my sister wakes up. She gets everyone else up. They come over to start comforting me and telling me that it’s okay. I ask what happened and I hear a guy answer I can tell you that. It turns out he is the doctor. He tells me that he has good and bad news. The good news was that I won. The bad was that I broke both my legs and that from the hip down I was paralyzed. I’m staring at him looking like a dope and then I burst into tears. I feel like it is the end of the world. The doctor says that I will never ride or walk again. I just fall back and stare at the ceiling. The doctor say there is a clinic I can go to see that I can’t walk and then I think myself I’m going to walk again no matter what anyone says. I go to the classes for a whole month and I start to give up. Then my friends come in and say that they will do it with me. This made me feel so much better. I started to make progress. Miraculously 2 weeks before the championship I am up and walking. Now the only problem is, can I ride. I know that it is going to be hard but I know that I can do it. My friends and family have been supporting me through this very tough time. They help me and push me to keep doing it. Though they believe in me, the doctors don’t. They keep telling me that I’ll make it worse and I will never accomplish it. I tell them that I don’t think like that and that I’ve already started to walk again so I am making progress and I can do it. It finally made them stop telling me that I can’t do it. Finally the day of the championship is here. I feel more nervous then I have ever felt in my life. Everyone there keeps coming up to me congratulating me and saying that I was very brave to do it or that I was an inspiration to them. The race is about to start and I feel so pumped and nervous at the same time. As I start to go I feel so good and right back where I belong. The whole race I see everyone I know cheering for me. With three laps to go, I pull ahead into first place and the whole place sounds like it’s going to explode because of how loud it is. I can’t help but smiling and laughing to myself. I know that right then and there, this is my home. Its last lap now, I’m turning the last turn, I can see the last jump where the finish line is, I jump over it and the whole place gets louder than before. When I pull into the pits every rider congratulates me on the win. My family and friends come running over and the excitement was amazing. A bunch of reporters come over and start asking me questions. I tell one reporter who asked what was is all like and how do you feel now. I say everyone helped me out when I needed it most and I never gave up even the tiniest bit. It feels amazing to come all this way and to come out on top. Doctors were telling me to give up because it would be the ultimate recovery. All of that just made me want to do it even more. I knew right then and there that I was coming back.