My late daughter, Leigh, firmly believed there is a strong person in each of us. Her favorite saying was, “You’re stronger than you think.” It took her 20 years to find her true and complete strength. She always knew she had unusual physical strength; able to beat all the boys in her class in arm wrestling until the 7th grade, and with an aerobic capacity and pain threshold that enabled her to run through pain and become an elite distance runner. A brutal and tragic near-death experience at the age of 20 revealed to Leigh her inner strength and helped her realize that she was truly much stronger than she thought. After surviving that nightmare scenario, she dedicated the rest of her life to helping others find the “strong” within them. She wanted to make an impact, to make the best of her second chance at life. As a runner, coach, teacher, mentor, public speaker, and friend, Leigh changed people’s lives. In terms of how to live, love, and laugh, she set the bar high. She began writing her life story in the Summer of 2012, but she died of MRSA pneumonia before she was halfway through the first draft. I finished writing her story and published it in December, 2016. You can find it at:
Learning to live, love, and laugh after tragedy.
