Failure is Not an Option by Maddison

Failure is Not an Option by Maddison - February 2017 Scholarship Essay

During the summer of 2014, I simply a girl who developed a passion fro fitness. As I continued looking into new workouts and activities, I ran across a teen triathlon coming up at the end of the summer. Although, I was in no shape to participate, building my body up enough to do so became my main goal that year. Little did I know that it would be such a difficult challenge.
As I began prepping my body, I decided it was best to cross my exercises: biking in the mornings, running in the evenings, and swimming when I got the chance. By the beginning of July, I was able to bike up to ten miles at a time (which was an accomplishment in itself). On July 3rd, however, I was in a rush and decided to go biking that evening. Foolishly, I wore flip-flops and as I was riding, one slipped of my pedal and I looked down to fix my footing. The next thing I knew, I was laying in the middle of the road, bruised and broken. When I reached for my phone to call my Mom, my right arm was numb and simply would not move. I had broken my humerus, the bone connecting your shoulder and your elbow. In excruciating pain, my family rushed me to the hospital where I was made aware that surgery was a must.
I ended up needing seven screws and a titanium plate to repair my "puzzle-like arm" as my surgeon described it. This surgery was not the end of my troubles. My doctor said I could not do any physical activity for at least four to six months! I was devastated because the chances of achieving my goal I had set for myself was little to nothing. July went by and school came along. Keeping up with classwork without your dominant arm was a job itself. October came along and I was finally released to start back running, I was a cross country runner at the time. I started back getting into my groove but my motivation was depleted. Something had to be done. I started lifting light weights to see if that would spark anything. Sadly, it was not long until my arm began hurting and another surgery was needed. Once, that recovery was over, I felt like a new girl! My arm pain had disappeared and I was ready to start back exercising.
I will forever be thankful for my family and friends pushing me to continue participating in activities I enjoy as well as for this accident in general. With so many doctors visits, I was able to speak with my physician's assistant about her career and was inspired to also become a physician's assistant in orthopedics in hopes to help young athletes like myself in the future.