Six-Time Olympic gold medalist Amy Van Dyken is in a hospital after an ATV accident last weekend. She is paralyzed after suffering a severed spinal cord. The former Olympic swimmer has put on a brave face for news and social media, although it has been obviously a difficult time for her as well as her friends and family.
Friend and fellow swimmer Dave Denniston, who is also paralyzed, has no doubt that Van Dyken will forge ahead and overcome this event. Denniston ran into a tree in a sledding accident years ago but kept swimming and is now a coach. He says Amy has what it takes to thrive despite the circumstances (via Fox News):
"'When you're in that situation ... you clearly see two different types of people: One is sitting in their room, feeling sorry, asking, "Why me?" And they'll get through it, but it won't be pretty. And then there's a much smaller group, and Amy falls in this category of, "All right, there are a lot of opportunities here, this is a different way than I planned on living my life, but I can make the most of this." Those are the ones who ... tend to progress the furthest after the injury.'"
While Denniston has embraced his new life with a new outlook he still couldn't help but feel overwhelmed for his friend (via CBS Denver):
"'It was really something almost surreal for me because I started crying and I couldn't understand it. I was just baffled and I was like, "Wait a minute, you're in this situation, you didn't want people crying for you"
"'Literally hitting the tree knocked some sense into me to where I was like, "Let's look at some of these positive things and really embrace the positive things."'"
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