The girl who was never meant to survive
Haven Shepherd kneels on the school diving board, takes a deep breath and launches herself into the pool.
“When I’m in the water I feel completely free, I get to feel completely myself.”
The pool gives Haven respite from her prosthetic legs. Wearing them all day can be “exhausting”, the 15-year-old says.
It’s a long way from her training pool in Carthage, Missouri, to the hut in rural Vietnam where her father tried to end her life.
What a beautiful story! Thank you for sharing this. Now I’m wondering if you would do an eerily similar story of another girl who was never meant to survive. Her parent intentionally wanted to kill her, and in this story that parent was the mother. She strapped her legs into stirrups where a doctor performed a saline abortion that failed. That baby girl fought for her life, survived the procedure, was adopted by a caring American family, too, and grew to be a lovely young woman. Her name is Gianna Jessen. Look up her story and read about this courageous activist.