After being locked in her own body for four years, a girl wakes up and shares the secrets that she was actually instructed to remain silent.
Victoria Arlen, a healthy triplet who enjoyed dancing as a young child and showed athletic ability, came into the world.
However, at the young age of 11, Victoria started showing unsettling flu-like symptoms. She frequently passed out and developed pneumonia.
She lost her ability to move below the waist just two short weeks later. Little by little, her body began to shut down. Everything about her was completely crushed by a serious inflammation of the brain and the spinal cord.
Vicky lost her ability to speak, consume food, or move without assistance, and her family could only watch in terror.
However her amazing story had only just started. Her family and doctors were going to be shocked by what was going on for four years later.
Victoria was ‘stuck’ on the inside of her very own body for nearly four years.
Her body was in a vegetative condition, the doctors told her family. She had to be able to maintain her life by being fed through a tube.
At first, her parents were informed that the chance of her recovery was extremely low.
Her mother, Jacqueline, stated, “We lost her.”
No one became aware of Victoria’s ability to hear people she loved next to her hospital bed.
She ‘wakes up’ cognitively again two years after going into the coma, but she was still unable to move her body. She tried to respond because she was able to hear discussions going on around her, but her body wasn’t moving.
Victoria had no chance of explaining what was really happening to anyone, which felt like something like a nightmare.
Physicians’ Prognosis
During this stage, medical professionals had identified the rare illness that was the reason for Victoria’s spinal cord and brain inflammation.
Her family was informed by physicians that she was essentially brain dead. She would spend the remaining parts of her life in a vegetative condition.
“However, my parents had trust in me. They were take good care of me and put up a hospital room in our New Hampshire home. My three siblings kept me informed about what was happening outside of my room because I am a triplet and we have an elder brother. They inspired me to face challenges and develop my strength. They were unaware that I could hear them, but I can.” Victoria tells ESPN.'”
Victoria managed to pull herself out of a vegetative condition in 2010.
She managed to have eye connection with her mother in December 2009, and that was when it all began. She then progressively regained consciousness. Initially, she had the ability to move a fingers; as time passed, she went to wave her hand. She eventually had the ability to construct words, which then developed into sentences.
She firstly tried porridge on her own before moving on to solid foods. Later, when she could grasp her phone, she discovered what it meant to “poke” someone on Facebook.
She had made amazing progress, but there was still one thing she was unable to do: move her legs.
It was made clear to Victoria that the swelling in her brain and spinal cord had permanently damaged them. She might have permanent paralysis from the waist down.
She received similar advice from each specialist: “You must need to get started sitting in a wheelchair.”
Abused because of her wheelchair
But Victoria has a greater determination than most people. She kept fighting despite what seemed like insurmountable obstacles.
She resisted believing the doctors’ predictions that she wouldn’t ever walk again. She was never meant to sit in a chair for the rest of her life.
But when she returned to high school in a wheelchair, some of her classmates started bullying her.
After the first day there, she had no desire to come back to school, even though she had been looking forward to it.
Victoria returned home completely depressed and on the point of tears. Her parents decided to do whatever it took to give their daughter the self-assurance she needed to go out again that day.
They obeyed to their word and never gave up.
Hopefully was all Victoria had because she was unable to walk again due to her medical condition.
Her struggle during this period was best summed up by her next quotation: “Optimism is the faith that brings about achievement. Without hope and confidence, nothing can be accomplished.“
Victoria’s journey finally reached a turning point.
Victoria had become accustomed to being around water, and having grown up next to a lake and having learnt to swim at a young age. When she was barely ten years old, she had joined a swim team and participated in tournaments.
Victoria was convinced she would never be able to swim again while she was getting better from her illness. Without her legs, she believed it to be impossible.
Her brothers, however, had other opinions. They dropped her into the family pool in 2010. At first, she was afraid, but this was the motivation she required.
The “jump” in her life, according to her, has returned. Victoria was liberated from the chair while swimming, and much to her own amazement, she continued to be a strong swimmer.
Additionally, the water provided confidence in addition to freedom.
At the age of 17, Victoria played for the US squad in the Paralympic Olympic Games in the summer of 2012. She won one gold and three silvers in the 100-meter freestyle. In the later competition, she also established a new record.
The majority of the world was aware of her when she arrived home from London. When Victoria accepted a lecturing invitation, locals started to recognize her.
When she started telling her tale to media reporters and periodicals, she inspired countless people all over the world.
She was still disturbed by one thing, though, and that was the wheelchair.
Victoria migrated to San Diego in 2013 to take part in the Project Walk program, which teaches paralyzed people how to stand up straight again.
“In order for me to teach every single day, my mom and I briefly moved to San Diego and lived with relatives. Although we knew this was the area that could help me, we didn’t want to move far from my dad, brothers, and other family members. My family chose to create the first Project Walk location on the East Coast in order to fulfill their commitment. In this manner, I could work out daily and accomplish my goal, while others in my village could find the hope they so desperately needed,” says Victoria.
However, medical professionals had doubts about Victoria’s ability to walk.
Her parents were informed by a doctor that he couldn’t “mortgage his house on it.” In order to be able to open a Project Walk Boston, they responded by doing precisely that.
The first few tentative steps Victoria took were on November 11, 2015.
She was supported by two coaches as she moved her legs while wearing a harness above a treadmill.
It had been six years since she had ‘woken up’ by that point. Many physicians have repeatedly proclaimed him to be dead.
Victoria nevertheless rose early every day and put in six hours of training to accomplish her task.
She started to move again gradually. She soon learned how to use crutches to help her walk.
On March 3, 2016, five months after first using crutches, she was fully free of them and able to walk without assistance. Since then, she wasn’t stopped.
“That does not mean that every day is ideal. I’m still significantly impaired, making walk difficult. I use leg braces, work out for two to three hours each day, and keep a chair or crutches nearby for days when my legs feel more immobilized. But my difficulty is no longer as apparent,” she says.
The real amount of the harm and the effort required for her to continue are only known to her coach and her immediate family.
However, it’s all worth the effort. I haven’t been able to look someone in the eye for ten years without spending the entire day focusing on butts.
Victoria wasn’t sure how she was thinking when she first got out of her wheelchairs.
She was afraid about how people might think of her.
However, I then reached the realization that this is my journey alone; perhaps it will inspire those who need it most.
After a difficult 10-year journey, Victoria just found her true self.
She has won a gold medal at the Paralympics, works as a program director for ESPN, and is most importantly someone who survived.
Victoria is frequently seen as a living, breathing miracle and an example for everyone. She is cautious to emphasize one thing, though:
“I failed to accomplish this on by myself and I am appreciative of everyone who has supported me this far. I’m getting used to my new situation every day. I believed that after I took those steps on March 3, I had reached my goal. But in truth, they were just the start.”
What an amazing journey has been set forth by this strong, courageous, and inspirational woman!
Sharing her story will allow all of our friends and family to benefit from her struggle, which is the least we can do.
“Optimism is the belief that produces success. Without hope and confidence, nothing can be accomplished.
Victoria, we wish you the best of luck in the future.