CRUSH YOUR GOALS

I love to run and this love goes back to my childhood days, running with dad at the Dhahran Hills Track, the Elementary school I attended. Dad always lovingly encouraged me on these basic runs to keep going. Today, it echoes loudly in my mind. Today, a nudge of inspiration covers me with his words, when everyday life events are not going too smoothly or how I would personally like them to go.

In 2002, while on my last training run for the Marine Corps Marathon with my husband, Raul, I was struck by a car and nearly lost my life. As a result, I sustained a traumatic brain injury, which consisted of my cerebellum (the part of the brain that controls balance) being neatly sliced in half, my occipital lobe (which controls vision) was injured, and my temporal lobe (responsible for processing auditory information and memory) was also impacted. This does not include the 6 broken bones or all the bumps, bruises and thrashes that covered me. The initial consensus from the doctors was grim. I wouldn’t survive. I was in a coma and things did not look good. Miraculously, by God's will, Power and Presence, I did.