on Montreal south shore. This little girl lived sports. It ran in her veins. She was the sporty one in the family. In elementary school, she took part in every single organised sport activity, from volleyball to tennis. Every week, the little girl and her parents would go for a bike ride; she loved riding the bike. In fact, she loved it so much that her parents once allowed her to ride in the corridor inside the house. Her best friend’s parents were into touring and would go on very long rides; the little girl came to be interested in long distance riding.
On July 2005, the little girl left home but she didn’t come back. She was hit by a car, 50km away from home. She was transported to hospital, after being brought back to life by a shot of adrenaline in the heart. The little girl spent 3 weeks in hospital before starting a readaptation program in Montreal. During physio treatments, she fought a lot, always doing more than what was expected. It didn’t take long for her to go back home.
In september of that same year, she attempted to go to university in classic studies, but her head wasn’t ready. She transferred to another university, studying in history, the following semester where she met incredible people.
Years later, she decided she wanted to try competitive cycling because when you want to find out if you could do something, the only way to achieve this was by trying. She lived her first race in 2009. Fast forward to 2022, after years of hard work and sacrifices, and the little girl had achieved things she had only read about in her favourite athletes’ stories.
As an athlete, she established a world record, medalled at the 2012 London Paralympic Games, was world cup champion in 2012, medalled at the 2019 Lima Parapan American Games, won 29 national championships and was crowned double world champion in 2021. Sport has taught her teamwork, patience and mindfulness. She has always taken great pleasure in giving back, so she was quite engaged in various projects, such as making speeches in schools, participating in a cycling club, etc. She was quite active in promoting a healthy lifestyle through sport, specially for teenage girls3.
Being authentic, honest, committed, respectful of others and having drive are values important to her; this is what she’s hoping her actions say about her. Sport means inclusion and belonging. Living with a disability does not define an identity; it’s part of it. After all, she’s a little girl from a little town and her purpose is to never stop being a seeker. She’s a Paralympian. PLY
