Monday Muse: Never Give Up! You’ll want to hear this story 🤗
This past weekend, my friend Ashley & I played together in a tennis tourney here in town. This was going to be about how we lost couple of tough matches and how we came back to win, had fun, blah, blah, blah... until we met Isabella!
Isabella, or Bella to her close friends and family, is a 17 year old high school student and star athlete from Batesville, Arkansas. March of last year, she was involved in an ATV accident that led to her left arm to be amputated. What makes her truly special is her attitude from day one of her recovery processes. Completely positive and inspiring, thanking her family, friends and community for their love & support and saying “I’m just peachy” from her hospital bed right after surgery at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. She was back to playing volleyball for the Batesville Pioneers 6 months later with a new prosthetic arm, and she picked up tennis as well. She played singles in the tourney against my doubles partner this past weekend, and I would have said it was impressive to watch how great her game was just a year into picking up a racquet, much less to learn what she had suffered just a short time ago. And for you tennis buffs, she flips the ball from her racquet to toss the ball for her serve and everything beyond that looks every bit as good as what we watch on tv – like her one handed backhand... my forever demon :-)
I’ve not seen grit, determination, and perseverance like this in a long time, and definitely not this local. Life brings all of us losses, disappointments, and struggles, but meeting extraordinary people like Isabella, reminds me our attitude and gratitude paves the way for brighter days to come. I am awe-struck and inspired by her tenacity and strength of character, especially at such a young age. I am blessed to have gotten to meet her and now a forever fan!