I dropped the towel.
From that moment on, we were a team.
Therapy became our routine. I celebrated every milestone—the first time she stood on her own, the first steps with braces. She worked harder than anyone I knew.
School wasn’t easy. Some kids didn’t know how to treat her. Lily refused pity. She grew independent, sharp, and resilient.
She became my world.
Years passed. Lily grew into a confident, kind, stubborn young woman. She loved science, studied biology, and once worked at a wildlife center where she helped care for an injured barn owl. She cried the day they released it.