What My Body Taught Me: 13 Surgeries, One Coma, Countless Powerful Lessons

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” ~Khalil Gibran I was born with spina bifida. When I was ten years old, doctors told me I might not walk again after a surgery that would change my life. I don’t remember every word they said, but I remember the feeling, the air shifting in the room, the adults speaking carefully, the quiet that followed. Paralysis was a possibility. By that point, my body already knew hospital ceilings well. I