My recovery and subsequent rehabilitation from paralysis, following a serious brain infection, taught me to look beyond difficult circumstances and to trust that everything would work out. I discovered that my determination to recover was progressively strengthened as I realized that I would, and I could, endure anything.
Trust is knowing that you will persevere regardless of how events unfold and circumstances reveal themselves. Letting go of the need to control those aspects of life that you cannot control can be very freeing. Precious and vital energy wasted by imagining all the possible catastrophes could be better used by knowing that we will be “okay”, regardless of the situation.
After my condition was no longer considered life-threatening, focus was placed on strengthening my body so that I could eat and breathe on my own. The rehabilitation process was very tiresome and painful, but I trusted and knew that, just as I had survived the initial attack of encephalitis, I would again endure the therapy. And sure enough, after three months of breathing through a tracheostomy tube and being fed through a PEG tube, I was able to breathe and to swallow independently and without complication.
After five years of rehabilitation and progressive physical gains, I decided to attempt to complete my final year of Chiropractic College (my illness had previously interrupted my studies). There were many unknowns ahead of me and only the passion to be a chiropractor within me. The Chiropractic College was in Toronto, everyone that I knew had long since graduated, the illness had left me with balance challenges and now left-hand dominant, and it had been five years since I had been in school. I took a leap of faith, moved to a new city and paid my tuition despite not having any kind of assurance that I could handle the physical demands of Chiropractic College. My final year of schooling involved not only learning the subject matter, but also learning and adapting to my physical challenges when performing chiropractic techniques and procedures. There were times when I felt the hurdles were too difficult and I wanted to give up. But when my belief was shaken, the faith and support of those closest to me reinforced, sometimes even carried, my own inner trust and gave me the strength, courage, ability and confidence to persevere.
With trust, I pursued and achieved my goal. In July of 2010, I joined my graduating class and walked across the stage to graduate as a Doctor of Chiropractic.
“When you come to the edge of all the light you have, and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of two things will happen: There will be something solid to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly.” – Patrick Overton
Copyright Dr. Julie Doobay 2012
