The Running Dream Book Reflection In the book The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen, sixteen-year-old, track star Jessica is faced with a challenge: losing a leg in an accident. Jessica has her parents, her sister Kaylee, her best friend Fiona, her friends Mario, Gavin, and Merryl. She also had a close teammate Lucy, her track coach and trainer Coach Kyro, a person who becomes a very close friend and tutor Rosa. When traveling to track meet, their bus was in an accident with a pickup truck. One of Jessica’s teammates, Lucy died in the crash and Jessica lost a limb. She was immediately rushed to the hospital and doctors decided the best thing for her was to get a portion of her leg amputated. She was very upset about this as she was a track …show more content…
After getting her leg amputated she did not like the fact that it was a very long recovery. During her recovery she became very sad and lost hope knowing she would never be able to move like she used to. She visited a prosthetist named Hank who guided her through her recovery and created her prosthetic legs. Once Jessica was well enough to go back to school, her best friend Fiona brought her back and had the whole track team welcome her with a party during lunch. After figuring out how much all the medical bills and prosthetic legs cost, the track team decided to put out several news stories and have lots of fundraisers to raise money. Since Jessica was in a wheelchair on her first day back, she had to sit in the back of the classroom with a girl named Rosa who was in a power wheelchair and had cerebral palsy. After passing notes and talking to Rosa, Jessica found how to look past her disability and found out what kind of person Rosa was. When passing notes, Rosa asked Jessica why she likes to run and what it feels like. She also says that she sees Jessica and her dog run past her house everyday. They became really good friends and Rosa ended up being Jessica’s tutor in math. Jessica and Fiona would go to room 402
Throughout Jessica’s journey of losing her leg, she acquires an enormous level of support and comfort from her family while she is finding her way. Losing a leg is something that nobody ever wants to happen, but Jessica doesn’t get this choice. Along the way of the process of healing, Jessica’s family gives her so much support. Jessica states, “Mom’s been so strong through all this. So positive. I, on the other hand,
Terry knew that aches and pains are common in athlete’s lives. At the end of his first year of university there was a new pain in his knee. One morning Terry woke up to see that he could no longer stand up. A week later Terry found out that it was not just an ache he had a malignant tumor; his leg would have to be cut off six inches above the knee. Terry’s doctor told him that he had a chance of living but the odds were fifty to seventy percent. He also said that he should be glad it happened now fore just 2 years ago the chance of living was fifteen percent. The night before his operation a former coach brought Terry a magazine featuring a man who ran a marathon after a similar operation. Terry didn’t want to do something small if he was going to do something he was going to do it big. "I am competitive" Terry said, "I’m a dreamer. I like challenges. I don’t give up. When I decided to do it, I knew it was going to be all out. There was no in between Terry’s sixteen month follow up he saw all the young people suffering and getting weak by the disease. He never forgot what he saw and felt burdened to thoughts that died to run this marathon. He was one of the lucky one in three people to survive in the cancer clinics. Terry wrote asking for sponsorship " I could not leave knowing that these faces and feelings would still be here even though I would be set free of mine, s...
The scissors he was using were not getting the job done, so he thought of using Mrs. Maxy’s scissors because they were sharper. He got so excited that after he picked them up, he began to run back to his craft across the room. He tripped on his shoe and fell, but in the process cut off the tip of Maria’s nose. This injury was server and she was picked up in an ambulance. Although it was an accident, this was the final straw for Joey. He was then forced to Lancaster County Special Education Center for six weeks because he was a harm to student’s safety.
One afternoon, Alice comes home drunk and her eldest daughter Jess, who is nine years old, asks her mother if she is okay. Alice, who became frustrated at her own daughter, slaps her across the face and her daughter runs away to her room in tears. Alice then goes and takes a shower but falls on the floor, breaking the shower glass. Jess calls her dad on the phone for help after she sees her mom on the floor with glass shattered everywhere. She is later hospitalized and Michael confronts her about her alcoholic behavior.
Lainey, the daughter, is going into 9th grade after the summer. She tries to obey her father as much as she can. She's kind, but at times, she is blinded by her friend. She's a very smart girl, so she excels in many of her classes in school. The fact that she' a good student, but can still be blindsided, is demonstrated by the psychiatrist when she remarks; “... And good students like you don't just skip class.” (Davis 48). She runs frequently and is one of the fastest students
Spring Awakening, my first and final play. Shelley Elman the director of the play did not live up to my expectations. It was hard for me to understand what was going on throughout the play, and where exactly it was taken place at. There were also many technical difficulties with the sound that took my attention from the stage. This was my first play I have gone to, and it was not a good experience. I went on a Friday and was seated in the middle of the auditorium, and would definitely not recommend seeing this play with your mother as I did. The auditorium was not a full house, but there was still quite a bit of people. Everyone in the audience reacted to specific scenes in the play that were uncomfortable including me and my mother. Spring Awakening was definitely a play that got you thinking, but is not something I would go see for fun. From the start of the play to the end was extremely awkward for me. A lot of the content in this play were topics that are common, yet not many individuals like to talk about. The entirety of the play was interesting, but did not show me anything spectacular. Spring Awakening was a jumbled mess that needed a lot of help.
Miss Desjardin, still incensed over the locker room incident and ashamed at her initial disgust with Carrie, wants all the girls who made fun of Carrie suspended and banned from attending the school prom, but the principal instead punishes the girls by giving them several detentions. When Chris, after an altercation with Miss Desjardin, refuses to appear for the detention, she is suspended and barred from the prom and tries to get her fat...
Throughout Jessica’s journey of losing her leg she acquires an enormous level of support and comfort from her family while she is finding her way. Losing a leg is something that nobody ever wants to happen, but Jessica didn’t get this choice. Along the way of the process of healing Jessica’s
In the story My Left Foot, Christy Brown was diagnosed at the age of three with cerebral palsy. Many people began to give up on him, but his mother did not. She told everyone that they were all wrong and that he was a normal child. She worked with Christy every chance she could get and tried to teach him how to write and read. One day, his mother’s perseverance finally paid off.
Throughout Jessica’s journey of losing her leg, she acquires an enormous level of support and comfort from her family while she is finding her way. Losing a leg is something that nobody ever wants to happen, but Jessica doesn’t get this choice. Along the way of the process
A couple weeks into the school year, she comes to realize that “[she] is [an] outcast”; excluded from all clans and social events because everyone thinks she called the police at Kyle Rodgers’ summer party to break up the fun (Anderson 2). She feels alone and as if no one would listen to what she has to say, therefore she does not attempt to reconnect with old friends, and tell them the truth. After being dumped by her only remaining friend, Heather, Melinda finds herself in quite the predicament; she is now completely and utterly alone. She realizes that she does not even have a ‘disposable’ friend to make her feel better about herself, until her lab partner, David Petrakis begins talking to her more. While conversing with David, she realizes she is finally able to call someone a true friend. She asks if he “lectures all [his] friends like [that]” and he responds by saying “only the [friends] I like” (Anderson 159). She no longer feels alone; she is comforted, knowing that she has someone to lean back on if she feels sad or is in need of assistance. Melinda’s character shows growth and development, as she starts the year with no friends and no social life, though by the end of the year, she has finally succeeded in making a true
Dreyer, Danny and Katherine Dreyer. ChiRunning: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless, Injury-Free Running. Simon & Schuster. New York, NY. 2004
Christopher Bidlack, an author of studies involving changes in the use of prosthetics in sports and contributor to sports law studies on Marquette University’s research website, feels that the reason this topic is relevant today is because the technology behind prosthetic limbs has evolved greatly, both in terms of design and materials. Because of this great jump in the quality of prosthetics, American sports entities will soon have to determine whether disabled athletes will be eligible to compete on prosthetic limbs(Bidlack). It is because of this approaching decision that many officials fear the change and outcome of either banning or allowing the use of prosthetics in the sports. Along with this “there is frustration among athletes, but also fears that a liberal approach to enhancements would prove controversial. Double amputees are increasingly running faster than single counterparts as neither leg tires and they can take longer strides, creating a potential incentive to have both removed”(Monks). Meaning that by allowing the use of prosthetic limbs in sports, a moral dilemma could arise regarding an encouraged amputation of both limbs in order to perform better in the sport. The safety of the other athlete is also a major concern for officials. With the design of these prosthetic limbs, officials find them to pose a possible safety hazard to other athletes on the field. One incident occurred when paralympic runner Blake Leeper’s prosthetic limb came off during the paralympic trials as he crossed the finish line(Rubinroit). Many saw this as dangerous to the other athletes on the track as it could possibly lead to their injury. It is clear to see that whether or not amputee athletes can participate in the sports sanctioned for able bodied athletes will pose problems for the future, but with regulations and changes to the
Spirited Away is a Japanese anime movie by Hayao Miyazaki and produced under Studio Ghibli. The film was first released in July of 2001, and became the most successful film in Japanese history, grossing over $274 million dollars worldwide. The film was so successful, it even overtook Titanic (top grossing film at the time) and because the highest-grossing film in Japanese history with a total of $229,607,878. (Johnson, G. A.)
It was another long day of track practice with even more pain in my right leg. I was not your typical fourteen year old girl this past spring. I have a passion for running and I would do anything to make myself a better runner. That includes running or working through pain when everyone told me to stop. I went to track practice with the high school team before middle school practice had even started. I ran everyday trying to get my body in shape for a great season. As I was trying to get through another workout, like usual, my teammates tried to tell me to stop running.