child. She was the child every parent hoped for. From the time she was two, she already knew she wanted to be the next Jenny Finch. She started T-ball at four years old on the pitcher's mound, and that is where she played until she was nineteen when she was in a horrific car accident. She had a team of about twenty doctors, and every one of them warned us that people didn't make it through this kind of accident. But they didn't know Sierra and how she knocked low odds out of the ballpark.

She earned a full ride to college because of her amazing pitching abilities. I was the mom who was at every game, cheering her on, encouraging her to do her best, and not letting her be too hard on herself when she made mistakes. It made my heart so happy to see my baby girl on that pitcher's mound, probably more happy than her when she was standing on the pitcher's mound. I was sure that I would see her on TV, playing one day.

Then one day, I received a call from Coach Lucas, and my world, Sierra's world, and all of our family's world changed. We lost our Sierra that day and gained a new Sierra. She defied all odds, and she is alive and able to do the things we all take for granted, and we are so very grateful first to God, then to Sierra for fighting, to the amazing neurosciences ICU doctors and nurses, the extraordinary staff at the rehab hospital in Las Cruces, and lastly to all the people who patiently stood by her side and helped her get to the point she is today.