I love to hear the words “you can’t do that” or “you won’t be able to do that” because those people are wrong and I get to show them how wrong they are. Back in 2012, when I was 16, I was in a major ATV accident that resulted in me losing my left lung. Yup, you read that right folks I am living with one lung, and ever since then I have heard those phrases more than I ever had in my whole life.
It’s a funny thing how other people know what I am capable of and I apparently have no clue.
For instance, in Texas, whenever a touchdown is scored in high school football there are usually a group of people that run from one end of the field to the other holding flags spelling out the school’s name or mascot. At my high school, the varsity team of each sport took turns running the flags, being that I was a varsity softball player so I was super pumped to run the flags in the upcoming game. When I brought up to my coach he laughed, LAUGHED, in my face and told me “Mundy you would even make it to the 50 yard line”. Uh excuse me Coach but you’re about to eat you’re words. After hours of convincing and begging, he finally told me that I had to “try out”, big surprise that no one else had to try out and we had some pretty out-of-shape girls on the team. My poor frail lung was able to get me to the other side of the field (note the sarcasm) and I was allowed to run flags. And I did. Not only did my coach doubt me but pretty much everyone else in the school, no one thought I could do it.That game our football team scored 52 points. That’s seven touchdowns with two 2 point conversions. That’s seven times I ran up and down the field, I’m not gonna lie it was not easy, but everyone’s disbelief in my abilities gave me the strength to make it to the end zone. (Pun intended)
The best part was going into the stands after the game and having everyone admit they were wrong, I didn’t know then but it would soon become a reoccurring theme in my life.
I can and I have been able to do anything and everything I set my mind to, I have never and will never, let my “disability” hold me back.
After my accident. my doctors told me I would never be able to play softball again, finish a mile run, snorkel, the list goes on.
Just 5 months after losing my lung I came back and made the varsity team for softball.
Three months after that I finished a three and a half mile circuit, now it did take me almost 45 minutes but I finished.
Soon the list of “would never be able to” became my bucket list and one by one I began to cross them off.
Two years after high school, I studied abroad in Belize. We were studying Physical Geology, mostly marine, which required hours of swimming and snorkeling everyday. That was my hardest challenge yet. When a person is underwater, they are be compressed by the water, making their lung capacity smaller. So for me it made my lung capacity, which was already half of everyone else, even smaller. The first time I snorkeled I was overcome with anxiety, I could feel the limited amount of air I had and all the swimming I was doing was making it hard to keep up. I couldn’t give up though. The snorkel guide came up with a way to help me, he took the lifeguard ring from the boat and put it under my chest to help me float and it made a world of difference. After a couple of days I was tired of hearing “Sam don’t forget your float, you know you can’t snorkel without it”. There was that phrase again! It was time to show these people what I was really made of. I practiced my butt off and by the end of the trip I was snorkeling circles around my classmates, without my tube.
I have overcome my disability and I haven’t let it slow me down. Sure it makes my life more difficult and there are certainty things that I will never be able to do, like climb Mount Everest or win a hold-your-breath contest but I focus on the things I know I can do, because NO ONE knows my body like I do.
That goes for everyone with “disabilities”. No one knows what your body can do, when you put your mind to it, but you. If someone tells you “You can’t!” turn around and say “Watch me.”
I’ll be honest I did not come by this mindset immediately after my accident, it took time for me figure out that the only person holding me back is me. Even if it takes days or weeks or years, never give up and I know that’s easier said than done but trust me nothing beats the feeling of proving everyone else wrong while proving yourself right. You. Got. This.
