78) The gymnast

There was this feature on Yahoo news and it made for good reading

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SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- Chinese gymnast Wang Yan is making a "truly miraculous" recovery after breaking her neck in a horrific fall at last month's national championships and has regained some ability to move her arm and legs, according to newspaper reports Thursday.

Wang, 16, fell on her head on June 10 while performing a routine on the uneven bars at the national titles in Shanghai, a key test ahead of next year's Beijing Summer Olympics.
Her second and third vertebrae were fractured, an injury that doctors told newspapers results in death in 98.5 percent of cases.

However, just weeks later, Wang has been moved out of intensive care at Shanghai's No. 6 People's Hospital and is able to lift her legs and right arm above her body, the Liberation Daily newspaper reported.

"Those on the scene were pleasantly surprised. To recover to this level is truly miraculous," the paper said.

Doctors operated June 19 to repair the fractures and have ordered a three-month program of six hours of daily physical rehabilitation exercises and hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which forces more oxygen into the bloodstream and is believed to speed recovery of chronic injuries.

"She has managed to conquer the most dangerous period," Dr. Tan Shensheng told the Shanghai Daily.

Wang's injury is similar to one suffered by Chinese gymnast Sang Lan at the 1998 Goodwill Games in New York. Sang broke her neck making a practice vault and is confined to a wheelchair.

Just days after Wang's injury, national team volleyball player Tang Miao broke his neck crashing into a barrier as he was trying to keep a ball from going out of bounds in a match in St. Petersburg, Russia.

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Reading this story in a faraway Chennai, I felt that she must be a special person. To go through such a catastrophe at 16 and yet finding the inner resources to heal herself was heart warming.

Such raw courage wherever found is so inspiring that they urge us to face our daily difficulties with a better sense of proportion and cheer. We might have a nagging wife, or finicky boss or worse have financial worries and yet these pale into insignificance compared to the valour of this girl in faraway China.