Lilly was a Lively Little Country Girl

Lilly was a lively little country girl. She loved her goat Gracie and to ride her pony P.J. She loved to ride her bike and to swim. Lilly also liked to run and play and jump on the trampoline.

One day Lilly was with her family in their car driving. They were on their way to a fun place when her sister saw a moose on the side of the road. Lilly’s dad stopped to see the moose and Lilly and her sisters got out of the car. They had to cross the highway.

They stopped and looked both ways, just like they were supposed to. They started to walk briskly across the road. Lilly was excited so she started to run. No one saw the car until it was too late. Lilly was in front of the car and it was moving fast.

Lilly was hurt really badly when she was hit by the car. She had to go to the hospital for a long time. Lilly’s back was hurt and it made it so she couldn’t walk or move her legs. But Lilly was lucky because she was still alive, and her brain still worked, she could still learn.

Lilly had to be a brave little girl and work hard. She had to learn to sit up without the muscles that help most people sit up. She had to learn to move in many different ways. The therapist called it learning mobility. She learned to roll over and to scoot on her bottom to move across the room. Lilly had to learn to do all of this without the muscles in her legs or her back to help her.

Lilly had to learn new ways to dress herself and to go to the bathroom. Lilly had to learn to take a bath by herself safely. She had to be brave and have courage. Lilly had to learn how to live without her legs. Just like when a baby learns to do things Lilly had to learn how to do everything in a new way.

She could no longer ride her pony or her bike. She could no longer run, swim, or jump on the trampoline, at least not like she used to. Lilly’s mom told her that if she was brave enough and strong enough that she could find new ways to do those things.

Lilly did. She worked hard and was brave. She learned how to ride her horse again, she learned how to swim. She built the muscles in her arms so she can go fast in her wheel chair. She joined a swim team and raced against other girls her age. She joined a basketball team.

Lilly can ride her horse because she believed it was possible and she made it happen. She has an electric wheelchair and it makes her feel like she is running. Lilly learned to swim again and joined the swim team because she was brave. Each day that she does something it gets easier to do. Someday Lilly wants to get a bike like the one that she tried out. It has pedals that work with your hands. Lilly liked riding the special bike.

Lilly is a brave strong little country girl, and although how she does things has changed she still loves her goat Gracie that she shows at the fair. She loves to ride her new horse zip, and she loves to run and play outside, jump on the trampoline and to swim. Someday Lilly will do great things like go to the Olympics or climb a mountain, but for now Lilly has to take one day at a time being a brave strong little girl.