“Every year, my family goes skiing. One year, we went skiing at North Carolina Sugar Mountain. It was the first day of the new year, everyone was happy. I wanted to go skiing again. The temperature was a little warm, so they put artificial snow on the mountains. The artificial snow plus the recent rain made the mountain slippery. As I went skiing, I lost control, and fell out of the ski. I landed on my right shoulder, then started to yell. My ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) snapped, my MCL (Medical Collateral Ligament) tore, and I needed a temporary brace and crutches. I remember yelling at a man who was trying to help me because I was in pain. I didn’t get to do surgery until two months later, and that made my legs worse.
Since I couldn’t go up the stairs [when I got back home], I slept on the sofa bed. I thought about how I couldn’t do anything and I was worried that I would never be able to run again… I started to focus on what I wanted to accomplish before something like that happened again… It also made me value my legs.”
– Daniel Garcia, Senior, Health/EMT
Inside an Optimist's Mind 