July 1, 2011 started just like any other day. Or at least I think it would have, since I don't remember it. I had spent the previous night at my boyfriend's home in anticipation of celebrating Canada Day together. We'd been dating for three months and it was my first serious relationship. We watched a movie, attempted to drink wine and went to bed. From what I've been told, we woke up and left to pick up my boyfriend's brother before continuing to the Canada Day Celebrations in Mission, BC. Except we didn't make it to the Tim Hortons. In fact, we apparently didn't make it more than maybe 10 minutes from his house when his shiny red Camaro hit the tree that would change the direction of both our lives. “A young man and woman have been airlifted to hospital after a car veered off the Lougheed Highway and crashed into a tree Friday morning.” - CTV “Crash closes Lougheed highway east of Mission” - Mission Record/BC Local News “Two people have been sent to hospital after a serious accident in the Deroche area this morning” - News1130 All the facts I have, I've collected from news articles as well as the recollections of family and friends. The shiny red car my boyfriend loved had somehow veered off the road, turned 180 degrees and hit a tree on the driver's side. We ended up in the yard of a retired emergency responder who was responsible for removing me from the passenger's seat. I was admitted to the hospital and my boyfriend was flown to the more specialized trauma hospital. My first memory is one of no particular excitement. I woke up on our living room couch, a “Get Well” balloon attached to the coffee table and a television program playing in the background. Eventually someone fills me in about what happened. I have a Traumatic Brain Injury, a black eye, back and neck pain, bruising on my arms and a wicked headache. The next few weeks are a whirlwind of visits from well wishers, doctor appointments, a meeting with my new lawyer, my first visit to see my boyfriend in the hospital and a lot of time spent on my couch. From the TBI, I developed the attention span of a lemming, no longer able to watch a full length television program or read a complex novel. The rest of the summer continues, each week repeating the other as friends and acquaintances visit, I routinely see my doctor, I make trips to see my boyfriend in the hospital and I lie on the couch. It is soon suggested that I may want to consider delaying my return to school. I was slated to begin the final year of a diploma program. As I continued to have irrational emotional responses, mysterious headaches, a limited attention span, the inability to stand for long periods of time and a horrible memory, my doctor and mother were concerned about the potential of me graduating. I looked at this concern as a challenge; I stubbornly returned to classes in the fall, completed two semesters of practicum placements and graduated on time. Over the past 8 years since the car accident I have seen a variety of treatment specialists: neurologists, neuropsychologists, counselors, vocational specialists, physiologists, physiotherapists, massage therapists, chiropractors and an acupuncturist. While many of my physical injuries have been dealt with or have reached a manageable state, many of the invisible ones continue. From the reports of these specialists, I have a combination of anxiety, minor depression, chronic posttraumatic headaches, long and short term memory deficits and working memory deficits stemming from the “moderate traumatic brain injury”. I have had the same conversation with someone in the span of ten minutes, forgotten cherished childhood memories, hid under a desk at work when an intimidating customer walked by and cried in my car because of traffic. During my most recent visit to a vocational specialist, she reported that while I would likely obtain my Bachelor of Arts in Communication from SFU, with minor struggles and some accommodations, I would have difficulty transitioning into full time work. In her opinion, my chosen field of nonprofit fundraising would present more challenges than I could overcome with my “unresolved physical, cognitive and psychological complaints.” She also writes, “Ms. Tipper's need for accommodations would likely reduce her efficiency and productivity on the job, and render her a less attractive candidate for employment compared to non-injured individuals vying for the same positions in the open labour market.” I'm happy to say that just as before, I've taken her report as a challenge and graduated. I've taken workshops to help manage stress and anxiety (triggers for headaches), own a planner for work, utilize a Google calendar and write almost everything down in a notebook for safekeeping. So far, I haven't had any complaints about my efficiency or productivity; instead, I'm often complimented on it.

Throughout the past few years of my life, I have grown mentally and spiritually. I have gone through many stages and experiences in order to get to who I am now. As a teenage student, I feel successful and proud of how much I've grown and improved as a person. With the help of my many friends and families, I'm proud to have the confidence to say, there has been a spark that lit this faith I now have for my future and I. It all started in middle school where I was a 7th grader, I really wanted to be like the “cool” kids: failing classes, wearing the newest Jordans, having the best style, and skipping class. I envied them. I failed on purpose in order to be like them. I even asked others if I should fail this specific class on purpose, and of course, they encouraged me to. I had C's, D's, and mostly F's. As an immature 7th grader, I didn't know what others had thought of me, like my family and “friends”. I never really talked to anyone throughout my 7th grade year because I was too busy trying to fit in with the crowd. In my 8th grade year, I was pulled into a program called Coca Cola Valued Youth Program. It's a program where kids with bad grades go to improve, you tutor little children from elementary school to see how improvement and achievements looks like to encourage yourself to thrive for the better. The purpose of this program was to help you grow academically, but as for me, I didn't. I was still the same person from a year ago, but my grades did improve only because I feared not passing 8th grade. My slovenly effort was decent but the quality of my work was far below basic. Came along my freshmen year, I still thought I was a “cool” kid. I kept trying to fit in with the others. I failed my classes again because I didn't try until the last semester where I had a D in my Advanced English class, which was not a passing grade in order to get into state universities. I joined NJROTC and had many “friends”. I stayed for a year then quit, and when I did, all my “friends” vanished from my social life. I was a lonely person with only two friends who had always left me for their significant other, which caused mental breakdowns leaving me to always ponder why it was always me who had to feel this way. Loneliness had the best of me, which made me feel as if I did not have anyone to lean on, although they said they were “always” going to be there for me. In my sophomore year, I tried a little harder. In the beginning of the school year, I was still a little lonely but I started to get out of my personal bubble. I made a few more friends but they were just not as close. I still thought I was cool. As the lazy person that I was, I came to 1st period late all school year. I did try in my classes, I had A's and B's but the quality of the work was slovenly. I could say I grew a little more mentally, but my life seemed to be on a repetitive pattern, all I did was go to school, then dance practice, and go home to binge watch my Korean dramas. Around March 2018, I became best friends with someone, a simple guy I had met on Black Friday. As we started to get to know each other, I learned something new about Christianity as the days went by. I learned many things from just knowing God: I learned to be patient, I learned to love others even when I was mad, I learned more about God, I also learned how to calm myself, and be open-minded. I was grateful to learn these things and to pass what I have learned to someone else. This was when I started to actually want to see how my future would look like. I grew spiritually, mentally, and physically, I got out of my comfort zone and started to explore, like communicating and listening to other songs in different genres like Christian Worship music. I now have a place in my heart for worship songs because it has led me to new hobbies. My hobbies of dressing up, doing makeup, and collecting Jordans, shifted to learning musical instruments, helping out with housework and volunteering for community service. Today as a junior in high school, I am glad I have met new friends who always encourage me to thrive for the better, and I appreciate my family who is so loving and supportive. I have improved on my attendance of tardy first periods and absent Mondays. I have also been trying my best to keep up my grades. I am satisfied with who I am now, because of the sacrifices I have made. During finals week, I was a little stressed out because of the presentations and tests. I was also in a dance crew called Monsterz Inc but because of how much stress I was under, I had to push something I loved to the side so I can focus on my school work. Now I know I don't want to be who I was in the past because I know that's not me. I want to be better than who I was then, knowing I have potential to improve myself. In my future, I'd want this story to be a motivation that I can tell to those who were in my position because I know I'm not the only one. And that is why I know I will be okay.

What sport can someone do when they can't kick a ball, run, or even properly wheel a wheelchair? You would think that my perpetual ability to fall over while standing still would discourage me from playing any kind of sport, but that would make too much logical sense for my tastes. My whole family is very athletic; my Mom gloats about beating the boys' long jump team in high school, my brother has played soccer since three and my sister plays anything that catches her attention. But what to do with me? Apparently the answer was quite simple for my Mother: horseback riding. Horseback riding is one of the best things that has happened to me. During eleven years of riding, I have had ups and downs, had plenty of things to be proud of, improved my self-confidence and gained new skills. The program was called Pegasus, it is a physical therapy program for disabled riders. It entails riding for an hour and you gain basic knowledge of horses. I fell in love with it right away. For once I had the ability to move fast. Really fast. That alone gave me a whole new sense of freedom. Where I could barely walk at an average pace let alone run, the sudden ability to move at any speed while on the horse was exhilarating. Also, I was finally able to look people in the eye. From the wheelchair I was always shorter than everybody, and always looking up. Now from the horse, I was the one looking down on them. Five years in, I hurt my ankle. Since the stirrups irritated it I had to ride without them. Riding this way involves a lot of balance and skill. I was set back a few years because of the increased limitations. For a little while I felt like giving up. When one day someone pointed out something: I was the only one in my class without stirrups who didn't fall off. I realized they were right. With this new insight, I continued. It was in my 7th year in horseback riding when someone wanted to do an interview piece on Pegasus. It was summer break; I was vacationing in Nova Scotia; when my Mom asked a question out of the blue: “would I like to go on T.V. to represent the whole Pegasus program?”. Apparently she had gotten an email. About three weeks later and a whole lot of running around, I was in front of the camera, again I was being asked a question: Why do you like horseback riding? My answer was simple: the freedom of movement. But my success did not stop there. With my ankle healed up and a new horse named Soleil, my coach put me in a show. However, I wouldn't be riding against my other class mates. This time I'll be against able-bodied riders. Since it was my first large show, I didn't get my hopes up of bringing any ribbons home. I was just excited to be in the show. After the hour long show consisting of equitation which is a test of the amount of time it takes you to get your horse to respond to you. All the riders go into the ring at once and someone calls out instructions and you do it at a seconds notice. The second show was Dressage which is a pre-practiced pattern done by all riders. After both shows I was exhausted and still wasn't expecting much. Much to everyone's surprise that day I came in first, beating out the people had less physical limitations than me. I looked back at my parents, realizing the whole ring was applauding me. I sure did a lot of gloating when I got home. Flash forward a few years, I was faced with the biggest challenge of my life. At the young age of 18, I underwent a double hip reconstruction surgery which included work on my knee. The surgery itself lasted 6 hours and I was a Holland Bloorveiw Children's Rehabilitation Hospital for 5 months. The stay itself was isolating away from friends who were moving on, moving out and going to University. Worst of all, I was unable to horseback ride as horseback riding comes from the hips. Most people think you control your horse using your reins, but the horse listens to the riders' change of positioning and shifting of your weight around. It took me a full year later to literally get back on the horse. It was one of the happiest moment of my life. By that point, I was still having problems with my hips and not recovering well and I was beginning to give up hope on riding again. Getting back on diminished the fears and although I was unable to stay on for long, I did it. It took another full year to be able to stay on for the full lesson and I still have bad days. But riding overall greatly improved the speed of my healing process both on a physical and emotional level, as it gave me an intense workout and gave me new hope not to mention the emotional bond I have with my horse. Over the 10 years I have been riding I have learned many lessons, and gained confidence and pride. Before I started horseback riding I thought of myself as the girl that was in a wheelchair but could not wheel it, and the girl that loved to run but could barely stand. Now I am the woman that stands tall just on someone else's feet.