Elena

Elena was a beautiful girl who loved singing, jumping round the house and running in the fields surrounding her home like there was something after her. These she did daily as they were her hobbies and she felt like she could not do without these things. At age 4, she discovered how much she loved these habits and kept up with these till she turned 14. By now, she could run very far and had dreams to become an athlete and enrol in the junior Olympics track and field events. She was indeed a natural.

Imagine how she felt when she enrolled and on the day of the race, while training for the big day to ensure she didn't make a mess, slipped and fell. It was a fall like never before, her vision got blurry and everything went black. One of the trainers for another athlete sighted her fall and with a caring heart sprinted as fast as her feet could carry her to Elena's side and called the Emergency line.

"Stay with me," the trainer muttered over and over in the ambulance, while holding Elena's hands and praying silently that the girl gets fine because the fall was severe. She was rushed into the hospital and taken straight to the operating room. The trainer returned to the arena and continued with her job, but her heart was with the little girl who may never fulfil her dreams as a runner/high jumper.

So many anxious people paced in the waiting room, praying for a miracle. It came in the form of the doctor telling Elena's parents that, "Elena is fine, surgery was successful, but she may never have the ability to run or jump as she used to anymore otherwise she may be crippled completely"

Their hearts sank as they knew how devastating that would be for Elena but wiped their tears and decided to stand by and encourage her through her plight. Elena was discharged few days after and she returned home and focused on school, though not the same anymore. All the beauty she saw in her life seemed faded and she just didn't feel the breeze as before or sun rays as fascinating. The moon no longer shone through her window; sadness and frustration set in.

By and by, Elena read letters from the trainer who had become her friend, encouraging her to reach for something else and be the best at it. She realised that she couldn't return to her life again as it ended just before it actually begun. "No more running or jumping, what in the world will become of me?" She cried herself to sleep and wouldn't take solace even in her parent's comfort. One day, she decided it was enough and pledged to move on with life. "If I can't do something i know to do, then i must learn and know to do another," she posited.

Rising from bed one day, she went to her mother and with the biggest smile she could muster told her, "I think I'm ready to start afresh". That came as a shock, but great relief to her mother who pulled her closer and enveloped her in a warm embrace " How happy I am for you my daughter, it's about time," she said. 

"I want to go to school and become a doctor so that I can take care of people who feel hopeless. I believe I'm best suited because I've been there before and would be in a good place to feel their pain and frustration. Something good came from all of this, Mum" 

It was a very emotional but tremendous sight to behold. Elena was able to make something good out of all that she had faced. Leaving her first love, though difficult, she moved on to something else. She found something worth 'fighting' for and became a medical doctor at the end of it all, specialising as a paediatrician. 

The lesson from her story is this: If you have been in a situation that was unpleasant and sank into agony and pain, without making something good out of it, hold on for a miracle but if it doesn't come, then it's time to arise from that torment and forge ahead. That experience should mould you into the best person for what's ahead of you. Find something else to 'fight' for. Life is beautiful, you can't take that away.