I was eight years old and scared, and had no idea what was going on

This was the first piece to the whole story—the beginning.

I had learned quickly that life doesn't always go the way I want it to, and that's okay. I still plod on.

The video was still playing, although I didn't know why. It seemed as if the able-bodied dancers were mocking me.

Dancing with a spinal cord injury is a challenge like no other, but I aspired to prove to myself that I could still be phenomenal dancer even with an SCI

I kept wanting to go back on the stage and do it again since I had so much fun and felt so accomplished. It seemed that I had regained a lot of the confidence that I knew I had years before when I performed onstage all the time.

The thought of being able to [move my arms] made me want to give up my legs [instead] since I was accustomed to using them. But, I figured that after a few hours of sitting in a wheelchair...I would switch back...in a flash.