“Everybody Falls Down”

Here is an inspiring lesson from the courage, attitude and strength of a nine year old girl.

Haven Sheppard lost her legs as an infant in the arms of her Vietnamese biological parents, who had strapped a bomb to themselves and detonated it. They died. She was adopted by the Sheppards, an American couple with six of their own children.

Recently, Haven began competing in running non-disabled track (click here to view a video of her). It was very difficult for her with her regular prosthetic legs. With a grant from the Challenged Athlete’s Foundation, she got special prosthetic legs for running. She now runs with great spirit and while she doesn’t win, she says that her Mom taught her to say:

“It really doesn’t matter if you have fake legs or real, everybody falls down, getting up is the big deal”.