My proudest accomplishment

Everyone has a proud moment in their life that every day they look back on and say "wow I wish I could relive that again." just the feeling of that moment, and living in it makes you feel good. Even in your bad times, you think back to that moment, and just for a few seconds it makes those bad moments go away because you think of something that was good in your life. I've had a lot of proud moments, school wise, but nothing compares to the accomplishment I achieved in the summer of 2010. From July 31 to August 4 2010, I competed in the u.s. transplant games that were held in Madison, Wisconsin that year, this had been my first year attending since the last one was held two years ago and I was fighting my way back to health. I was nervous, as I got to Wisconsin, I was competing in multiple sports including, basketball, softball, long jump, and volleyball. My main concern going wasn't to win a gold medal or anything of the sort, it was basically to have the most fun I could and to experience more from people that had kidney disease like I do, and that's exactly what happened. Everyone there was just like me, I didn't feel alone, and as we had the opening ceremonies and games I learned a lot not only about them but about myself.  But back to the story at hand, I was competing in basketball at the coliseum arena for the first night, my body was nervous but my heart was ready. I hadn't played basketball since my surgery and I had been in training before the games so I was hoping miracles would happen, and so they did. I didn't know my team, but we played with eachother like we knew one another for years. Passing, shooting, good teamwork. We went on to win the final two games for that night and we were in for the finals the next day, this was the first time any Philadelphia team has gotten there. It came the next day and we beat mississippi to face dc for the gold which was nerve wrecking.  This team had played together for years and we were the underdogs. Somehow we pulled together and we fought it out. Scoring past them. They had 3 taller people than us and I was the only tall one. I had gotten injured from one of them but stayed in because I didn't want to let my team down. Everyone was behind us and as the score was tied with 30 seconds to go. I prayed in my head as I was guarding. I said to god "either win or lose, this was the best time of my life and I really needed this, thank you" and then my teammate shot the basket, I blocked the ball from the other team to run out time. The emotions started to run as we achieved something. I couldn't believe it.I had one my first u.s. Gold medal as I cried with joy with my teammates that we won I just had a flashback to everything that happened to me to where I am now and it was an amazing feeling. As I accepted my gold medal. I kissed it and held it to god because if it wasn't for him I wouldn't of held it, nor would I be there with my team. But this trip to the Olympics wasn't just my proudest moment because I won a gold medal, of course that is one of the proudest accomplishments because it means through everything I made it, but also on that trip I met some of the greatest people you could ever meet. People that understood what I was going through. When I played them it wasn't only about winning, it was about sharing stories and memories. Some of them have had their kidneys for 32 years while I've had mine for 3years. What they taught me is far more proud than the gold medal if I didn't win one.what they taught me was that anyone can last long with new life kidneys and that you can't sit there worrying about death. When you get a new kidney it means new life, give back by living it up and treating your kidneys right. I think these are by far the proudest moments in my life and if it wasn't for this trip I don't know where my state of mind would be because it gave me a new thinking on life..

Sincerely yours....