Living Every Single Day to the Fullest (Four Years)

So as some of you may know, November 15th marked my four year anniversary of going paralyzed. If you're reading this right now, I'm sure you already know by now that I was paralyzed by a rare autoimmune disease called Neuromyeltis Optica (NMO). But just in case you want to read up on my journey thus far, click here, here, or here for some of my older posts.

November 15th has been deemed an unlucky day in my family. Exactly five years before I began my battle with NMO, on November 15th, 2005 my cousin Donna Marie was tragically taken from us. She was 21 and in college, she had her whole life ahead of her. I was only in the 6th grade and looking back, I think I was too young to completely comprehend such a tragedy. Throughout my life, I've felt a connection with Donna Marie, she's someone that I think about often. Last year at an event on campus, I had my palm read and was told that my spirit guide is a family member who died when I was eleven or twelve. I was eleven when she passed. Suddenly, everything started to make sense. It may just seem like a strange coincidence that I happened to go paralyzed on November 15th, but I think it's a sign. It's a sign from Donna Marie that even though her life was cut short on November 15th, mine wasn't.

If the lesions on my spinal cord were any higher up, I would've lost my abilities to breathe on my own. If the doctor (who ended up saving my life) wasn't on call that day, I probably wouldn't have gotten the treatment that I did. There were so many different ways that day could have gone. But she was looking out for me that day. I could think about November 15th as the day that my life was ruined, but I won't. Instead of thinking of November 15th in a negative light, I like to look at it as a celebration of life. There isn't a single human on the planet that can say 100% they will be alive tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year. But right now, in this moment, I'm getting to live this life that isn't promised to me. Yeah, I use a wheelchair, but so what? I'm not letting it stop me from doing what I want to do in life. I'm going to make the most of every day that I have here. We never know when our time is up. I'm living these days for Donna Marie who didn't have the chance for another day. And wherever she is, I know she's watching over me.