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Inspiration From a Teen Born Without Eyes or Nose
Townhall.com ^ | March 8, 2013 | Michael Brown

Posted on 03/09/2013 8:08:04 AM PST by Kaslin

The news line on Drudge Report immediately got my attention: Girl Born Without Eyes or Nose. But when I clicked on the link, expecting to read about a just-born, severely handicapped baby, I found a very different story, a story about a courageous teenager with an amazing attitude to life. One simple quote from her said it all.

Before I share the quote, let me introduce you to 16 year-old Cassidy Hooper, born without eyes or nose. A child like this would be the perfect candidate for abortion in today’s society, especially since her condition is traced to “a rare birth defect that likely occurred during the first two weeks of gestation.”

Yes, this is the age of designer babies and gender-selective abortions, and if it’s OK to abort a baby because it isn’t wanted or it’s the wrong gender, why bring a child into the world who will suffer so much pain and hardship? Isn’t the compassionate thing to put an end to her suffering before it even starts – in other words, to play God? Cassidy would answer with an emphatic “No!”

(Here’s a chilling side note: Had Cassidy been born in Holland, there’s the possibility a “compassionate,” God-playing doctor would have euthanized her at birth. But that’s another topic for another column.)

According to a March 5th report on ABCNews.com, Cassidy “has high hopes for a career in radio broadcasting, despite her physical challenges. . . . She attends The Governor Morehead School in Raleigh, N.C., a residential K-12 school for the blind, but no challenge is too big for her: She runs on the track team and recently qualified for a scholarship to the Charlotte Curling Club.”

She runs on the track team and she’s blind? And she’s into curling, that odd-looking ice sport that most of us only know from the Winter Olympics?

According to her mom, “She’s very outgoing and never met a stranger. Whenever we go anywhere, she says, ‘Put me by the pool and I'll go make friends.’ She loves to talk and is very, very self-confident.” And the first week she started attending the school for the blind in the fifth grade, she said to her mother, “Mom, everyone here is blind, so I'm normal.”

According to the news report, “Since the age of about 11, Cassidy has gone through a series of skin graft and facial reconstruction operations at Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte [North Carolina]. In three final surgeries done over two to three weeks, doctors will stretch skin flaps over a bone or cartilage graft from another part of her body.

“Cassidy said she is excited that for the first time she will be able to smell and breathe through her nose. ‘I'll have a real nose like everyone else’s,’ she said.”

But what about her other challenges? Even with a functioning nose, she’ll still be blind and will face a lifetime of obstacles and hurdles. This is how Cassidy looks at life, and this is the quote that so impressed me: “Things always may be hard,” Cassidy said, “But here’s what I think: I don’t need easy, I just need possible.”

What would the world look like if all of us lived like this? No eyes? No nose? No problem! She rides go-karts, has even tried playing baseball, and is curious, adventurous, and independent.

With severe physical handicaps that almost none of us could ever relate to, not to mention her numerous surgeries, her spirit remains indomitable. And some of her inspiration comes from the movie Soul Surfer, telling the story of another courageous young woman, Bethany Hamilton, who at 13 years-old lost her arm to a shark while surfing, only to return to the waters as a champion surfer. (She actually went back to surfing just one month after losing her arm.)

And it is from the Soul Surfer story that Cassidy learned the line, “I don’t need easy, I just need possible.”

Yes, Cassidy (and Bethany) tell us, life may be hard, but that’s nothing new. Life has never given anyone a free pass, and it has dealt some people absolutely crippling blows. But, as the saying goes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and if it doesn’t break you it will make you.

And so, rather than having an endless pity party or living in hopeless despair, Cassidy is here to tell us to quit making excuses, to quit blaming others, to quit feeling sorry for ourselves, and to quit looking for an easy escape. Instead, she reminds us that, “Things always may be hard. But here’s what I think: I don’t need easy, I just need possible.”

Time for an attitude adjustment, anybody?


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: abcnews; attitude; cassidyhooper; drudgereport; moralabsolutes; prolife; whiterose
Note: The video in the first link has been removed by the user. However you can see a video here byu scrolling down to the video

Teenage girl born without a nose or eyes prepares for surgery that will use bone from her skull to rebuild her face

1 posted on 03/09/2013 8:08:05 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
Thank you!

Just think, the same ABC News Network which presents this inspiring story also promotes the so-called "progressive" hard line advocacy for laws and policies which might have made the "story" impossible to tell!

How many millions of other "inspirational" stories have been silenced across the past few decades?

How many remarkable thinkers, leaders, physician healers, musicians, poets, artists, cancer researchers, and on and on, might be available as subjects of such stories--were it not for those who call themselves "progressive"?

2 posted on 03/09/2013 8:38:00 AM PST by loveliberty2
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To: loveliberty2

Exactly


3 posted on 03/09/2013 8:47:12 AM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: Kaslin
The linked article from Daily Mail contains "comments" which reflect an abysmal lack of perception of the reality that we are spirits inhabiting bodies.

Clearly, this young woman's spirit is beautifully formed, and she is intellectually strong and determined.

Equally important, she is blessed with parents who have not been "conformed" within the bounds of so-called "progressive" ideology.

Thanks again for posting.

4 posted on 03/09/2013 8:54:00 AM PST by loveliberty2
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To: Kaslin
What an inspiration!

God bless her.

5 posted on 03/09/2013 9:16:40 AM PST by hummingbird
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To: Kaslin
The left has very much been edging towards the whole concept of "life unworthy of life" and has even advocated that children suffering from cerebral palsy be aborted...

How soon until the left starts coming out with propaganda like this?

6 posted on 03/09/2013 9:35:28 AM PST by GraceG
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To: Kaslin

Having observed the sport of curling in action, I cannot imagine how it can be done without being able to see. The positioning of the broom in relation to the stone is so critical. But, if she can do it, who am I to quibble??


7 posted on 03/09/2013 10:07:32 AM PST by Elsiejay
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To: loveliberty2

A young woman with these handicaps does not want to sit down and wait for the handouts of the state but contribute.
Instead, the government lets lazy folks say, “I’m depressed I cannot find a job, let me live off disability the rest of my life.”
Cassidy is a blessing and a good example.


8 posted on 03/09/2013 12:30:24 PM PST by tbw2
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To: Elsiejay

she could be the person on the curling team that launches the “rock” — if she was given the direction and speed needed, and knew the exact timing to the foul line it would be possible.


9 posted on 03/09/2013 3:25:27 PM PST by twyn1
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To: Kaslin

Being born a teen is pretty amazing.


10 posted on 03/09/2013 3:28:39 PM PST by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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