A True Champion, Alyssa Liddle battled and beat her greatest foe and continues to inspire those around her.
Goals
Ever since I learned I was going to have an amputation, I have followed other amputees on social media. I was so desperate to see other people succeeding and fulfilling their dreams. And I noticed that there are a few different ways to handle a life change like this one.
- You let it overwhelm you and you crumble with sadness and grief over the life you once pictured yourself living.
- Do your best to get back to what you previously considered “normal” and just try to do everything you were able to do before without the added challenge, but adapt to it with your new life/body.
- Use this new life/body to propel you into living a life of greatness and bashing down barriers to achieve new goals. Both mentally and physically.
I see myself sitting somewhere between 2 and 3. I want and expect myself to do everything I did before and not feel like I have had any part of my life taken from me. And I also want to push myself to do great things. However, I don’t feel the need, at this point in my life (things can change), to be the best at everything. I don’t need a gold medal or to be the world’s most inspirational speaker. Those things would be cool, but- with where my life is at now, I just want to do whatever I want to do, however I can do it.
My life has become all about adapting to different things. I’ve adapted and learned new ways to go up and down stairs, how to shower, how to walk my dog, how to drive a car, how to ride a bike, and even how to kickbox. I love seeing myself crush my fears by doing things that I used to do with ease and without thought, in a new adaptive and successful way.
Having cancer may have caused me to lose a lot of weight and have a lot of muscle atrophy, but I am getting back to where I once was before everything changed. Maintaining a steady weight is crucial as an amputee. Having a weight that fluctuates can cause issues with the fit of the socket on your residual limb. You don’t want your leg falling off when walking in the grocery store!
Not every day is peaches and cream, but each day I make the choice to try to do better than the day before. When a challenge presents itself to me, I say yes to it. I even agreed to do a mud run marathon! I have never done one, not even when I had two of my own legs. But, I had the challenge come forward and I agreed to it, and now I am prepping for it and I am very excited about it! So I will keep pushing myself to fall between the lines of numbers 2 and 3, from above.
Follow Alyssa on Facebook: @Whenlifegivesyoucancer and Instagram: _whenlifegivesyoucancer
