Mom, You were supposed to write this. The foreword to to this very book, was to be written by mom. What I learned through the process of this reflection, and illustration on all the years that are my life is simple: My mom already wrote the foreword. On July 21,1980 my mom started this story. That is the day that my mom gave me life. Every breath I took, fall I had, and cast I wore was because of that fateful day in the summer of 1980. My mom was the start, support and reason for all that I am.

Am I strong? Certainly. Am I fragile? Of course. That is the paradox of being Taniya. What was the constant, that steadied me was mom. Every time she drove me to hospital, wiped away my tears, picked me up when I fell, encouraged me to succeed and held me tight when I believed that I failed she was writing. She had no clue, that she was writing the foreword to my life. She is just as, if not more, responsible for the pages and chapters that follow.

On July 21, 1980 my gave birth to me. She gave me the opportunity to live and breath. She gave me strength and determination. She made every success and moment of "overcoming" possible. And on July 3, 2009 my mom gave me MY LIFE . She held her head high, and silently said "Now, I wrote the foreword: it's time for you to go forth and finish your story."

The pages, months, and years that follow are her's as much as they are mine. nd thus ... here is OUR story.