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Not The Last Chance
“MOM! Oh my gosh my leg hurts really bad!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
“We need to get you to the hospital now! Get in the car.” Said my mom worriedly. I felt like I was going to die as we rushed to the emergency room then I hopped onto the cat scan machine and slowly got sucked in.
I watched the blinking-red lights on the machine as I waited and began to doze off. I snapped awake at the sound of me being pushed out of the tube-like machine. I sat up and the doctor gave me the bad-news look.
“I’m sorry to tell you Levi, but...” He paused for a moment as he was getting prepare for the horrible news he was going to throw at me.
“Levi, you have cancer in your right leg.” My face froze open, hoping this was not a joke, yearning for more information, and telling myself it will be ok.
“You’re gonna have to get your leg cut off or leave it on. I would recommend getting it cut off or you could possibly die.” Oh my gosh, I have cancer. I’m gonna get my leg cut off because of cancer. My life won’t be normal again just because of stupid cancer, I thought.
“Let’s do this, I guess.” I was so scared. As soon as I knew it I was knocked out.
I woke up in five hours and my leg was a little nub with bandages all over it. It actually looked really funny! I hopped all the way to the car on the way home where it all started.
“Mom, this might sound impossible, but I want to start track.”
“Levi, everything isn’t impossible, if you want to try track then you can.”
“Thanks Mom!” I was still in a wheelchair so I knew it wasn’t going to happen right away. When I was finally able to take off the bandages and stand, I felt like a newborn infant. I wobbled side to side trying to gain my balance. I looked as if I was holding my leg behind my back. My brown hair was greasy from not being able to take a shower, and my freckles had dimmed from the lack of sun. When I stood up I felt like I could accomplish anything.
The next day my Mom got a gym membership at the YMCA and I started training right away.
The gym was dull and gray with fans hanging from the ceiling. Workout equipment filled up the whole room. There was mostly any kind of machine you could think of. A lot of those machines were filled up by body builders.
I stepped on the first machine I saw, a treadmill. The treadmill, a machine that trains you to run faster, had a sleek black finish and two handlebars. I was happy to see that it had handlebars on both sides so I could hold on for my life as I slowly jogged. I started at 1 mph, and I stayed in that range for most of the time. After 30 minutes of slowly jogging, I got on to a stepper, and then an elliptical. By the time I was done, I could kind of jog all by myself.
After a few months of training, I went to my first practice. My coach, coach Mike, was very helpful to me. He helped me as I ran down the track, grasped onto my forearm to help me stand, and let go and jogged behind me to see how I did.
“You are a super good runner for your condition, Levi.”
“Thanks coach! Tomorrow can you meet me here an hour before practice starts?”
“Sure! I appreciate it that you’re so motivated!” After that day, for the past few months, we met up with each other at the track until it was the day of the state race.
The green grass sparkled in the morning dew. The track, a black tar oval, was freshly painted with seven new white strips all equally spaced apart. Runners lined the start, stretching for the race.
“Levi, you’ve been training for this moment, I think you have a great chance of getting into the top 5.”
“I’ll try my best coach, see you on the finish line!” I hopped over to the start as people gave me the what-the-heck look because I only had one leg and I was competing against people that had two. I slowly sat down and stretched out my leg.
“All runners get prepared, we will be starting in two minutes,” the muffled overhead speaker announced for everyone to hear. The two minutes flew by and before I knew it, they were counting down. 3, 2, 1, BANG! The start gunshot was like a muzzled clap. I began run hopping and surprisingly started passing people. Before I knew it, I was leaving everyone in the dust. Oh my gosh, am I gonna win? I thought. Everything was looking bright for me today, then I was 10 feet away from the finish. Hopping for my life, I finally got to the finish line. I felt like I could collapse! The sound of cheers rang through the morning air. The aroma of sweat spread across the area as others passed the finish. Everyone congratulated me and asked to take pictures. They finally handed me the 1st place trophy as an official-looking man asked me to come onto the stage.
“I would like to give this young man this award. It’s for being the first person to ever win a normal race like this with only 1 leg. He will also be going in the Guinness book of world records.” I felt so special at that moment in time. That day, I learned that the more physical differences you have, the cooler it is when you accomplish things.

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Levi gets his leg cut off because he got cancer. He thinks his life is over ub=ntill he starts training for the state race.