This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years, and now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint.
It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer.
Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more.
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This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories. As a child, a devastating illness left Victoria Arlen trapped. inside her own body for years. Doctors believed she would never recover. and no one knew Victoria herself was still in there.
listening, thinking, and hoping. That same little girl would go on to become a gold medalist, a world record holder, and even a semifinalist on Dancing with the Stars. Here's Victoria Orland with her story. Life was great. I mean, life was, I know the word normal is such an elusive thing, but it really was.
I mean, I had the most incredible childhood. I have an awesome family, and I'm one of triplets, so there was never a dull moment. It was great. I mean, I was the kid that never got sick, never had any health challenges or anything.
So I had high hopes for what I wanted to be and what I wanted to do. And I was the only girl of four.
So it was all about, you know, just keeping up with my brothers, and sports were definitely a huge part of my life. I was just a very energetic human. I loved just being outside. I loved playing. I loved training and working towards something.
So I was the type of kid I would wake up and just go. And then my mom would be trying to put us all to bed. And I was like, but we got to do all these things. And she goes, well, we'll do them tomorrow.
So just always on the move type of kid with way bigger goals than a normal, you know, at five, I was telling my mom I was going to be a gold medalist. And she's like, okay, like an Olympian. And I also come from a family that they're, if you have a big dream, they're like, go for it, work hard at it. That was me. I mean, I was a very overachieving, hyperactive kid, but then.
It all kind of changed. I started every other week just getting different things. I would get the flu, I got pneumonia, I developed asthma. It was like my immune system just can't seem to keep up or have any fight in it because it was every other week something was happening. And then they were just watching all my fine motor skills start to go.
And I'm pretty stubborn, so I don't like to be told I can't do something. Or if I can't do it, I try to figure it out.
So they were watching me. Try to hold myself up. They were watching me try to grab something, and it was basically like someone was just shutting the switches off. Being the age I was at, there were more assumptions than not that I was doing it for attention.
So, the top children's hospital in Boston just told my parents I need to go see a psychologist.
Okay. My mom was like, You can't, how? How is she doing this for attention? She's asking me when she can go back to school. She's asking me if she'll make it in time for her dance recital.
Like, I was asking all the time. And also, my mom's like, I'm not here to try to tell you my kid is perfect. But she's like, She's a very secure kid. She's been, she has known her place in this world since she was five years old. When a hospital like that labels you a psychiatric patient, that's I guess apparently a title that puts like a target on your back to not getting treatment or respect or even doctors taking you seriously.
My mom's like, her foot is dragging. She has no reflexes left in her legs. Like there is, this is not normal. And also, how does a child fake this? All the fine motor skills started to go down, and my mom was going to these doctors and saying, Learn from her, like something is wrong.
They doubled down on trying to snap me out of it and berate me and and uh and I think abuse is a tame word. They pretty much just tortured me. I won't get into too much specifics just because I don't want to traumatize your listeners, but. They were just trying to convince my parents I was crazy and They tricked my parents and told my parents, you can't take her home. Cause I was, at that point, my mom's like, it was failure to thrive.
Like, you couldn't swallow anymore. We didn't have a way to give you nourishment. And so they basically said, well, you can't take her home, but we have this special care facility that would give her rehab and pain management. And, you know, we can get her better.
So, my parents were desperate. They were like, okay. And, you know, my mom said it was the one time she didn't listen to her gut and didn't listen to God yelling no. It was actually an unmarked psych ward that they essentially tricked my parents into locking me in. And as soon as they closed the door, is when for 10 straight days I was tortured day and night with them trying to snap me out of it.
And by snapping me out of it, they thought that just absolute physical and emotional torture would suffice. It's scary enough to be like, I can't feel my feet anymore, and I can't get out of bed. And then no one's believing me, and I'm a kid, so I don't know any better. But my nerves were dying off, my brain was swelling, my spine was being obliterated, and. That was the first time I thought about suicide.
I kept trying to see if there was a window I could jump out of, and I couldn't move at the time. And I remember I was in this room, and there were bolted-down windows, and there was a back alley. And I just remember thinking: if I can just jump, it's gonna be way better than what I'm dealing with 20 hours a day. If if not more. And um It was scary enough that my body was shutting down, but what was even scarier was the fact that.
I was being tortured and I couldn't defend myself. And how I didn't know humans could be so cruel. I didn't know doctors and nurses that are meant to help you or a. A facility that's supposed to be the best in the world. could be hell on earth.
My heart had just been completely shattered, and my innocence completely taken away from me. By the time my mom got to me. I was about 60 pounds, maybe less. And I was, my mom was like, you were seizing because your body was in such distress. And my family rescued me, so they had to get lawyers involved.
They basically tricked the hospital that I was being transferred. And she's like, So we rescued you. And she goes, I never had seen a corpse before. And she goes, when we walked into the room, when we could finally get to you. You were just this corpse.
During that time, they essentially accelerated the process of my brain and spine just absolutely. being d catastrophic destruction happening. And so in um April of 2006. I was 11. I woke up with a really bad pain on my right side and and my life was never the same.
My mom was like, the last thing you said was, Your head was being crushed, your head was being crushed, which we learned was my brain was swelling. I was screaming. My mom was like, you were visibly shaking. And we were rushing you to the hospital. And then by the time we got there, the life just left your eyes.
You were You were gone. You don't need to talk in your head, you sound like you.
So I thought I was talking, but I was a little out of it, and I'm laying there, and I'm thinking I'm talking.
Well, why can't I move? Like, why do I feel so stuck? Where is everyone? Why is no one? I'm asking like what's going on.
And then I realized very quickly that They didn't know I was there. I was in this locked-in state.
So it's a vegetative state.
So the doctors thought I couldn't hear, couldn't see, wasn't there. Like they were literally telling my parents: people don't survive this if they do. She's not coming back the way you think she is, or even remotely close to who she once was.
So they were like: either plan a funeral or put her away. My family's like, no, we are, whatever time we have with her, we're going to give her a beautiful life. And they didn't even realize that I was aware the whole time.
So, for four years, I'm fighting a very hard and long fight, but it was those moments where it was just kind of realizing: like, I can't at least. you know, go down without a fight? And I watched my family not give up and so I was like, Who am I to give up? I mean, plenty of the doctors were saying, you know, those kids look honor, but my family didn't believe that.
So, as long as they were believing and fighting for me, I could keep fighting too. And even listening to Victoria Arlin tell her own story. One of three triplets, she never got sick in her early life. Energetic would be the word she described best and competitive. As she said, she woke up ready to go.
And then suddenly her immune system is challenged. Her motor skills start to wane. She felt like someone was, quote, shutting the switches off. The hospital, well, they came to the conclusion it was all in her head. The next thing you know, it's the psych ward.
And then worse. It was unimaginable that doctors could treat her as she was being treated. And it was that rare time her mom didn't listen to her gut. When she finally came in to intervene, her daughter was a corpse, 60 pounds. 11 years old.
Their hope gave her hope. They're fighting. gave her the fight. When we come back, More of the story of Victoria Arlen. Here.
on our American stories. Yeah. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way.
The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q.
Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer. Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. And it can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs.
Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at Let's Get RealaboutskinCancer.com. You've watched racing.
Now get behind the wheel. At Kaizen Autosport Racing School at VIR, professional race drivers teach you how to drive faster, safer, and with more confidence on one of America's legendary racetracks. Never driven on track? We'll get you started. Already experienced, we'll take you to the next level.
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Love discovering new music before anyone else? Stop being just a listener. Start making the rules and work with your new favorite artist before they even break. The Beam is a free music competition app where real emerging artists compete, you vote, and massive brands step in to fund the next big name. Your votes change careers.
Find them first. Download thebeam at thebeam.com or on the app store. Vote for an artist you love or discover your next obsession. It's the first music chart that A's artists. And we continue with our American Stories and Victoria Arlen's story.
When we last left off, she'd just fallen into a vegetative state after suffering severe brain swelling. But what no one else knew, eleven-year-old Victoria was still fully alert. and aware of everything happening around her. Let's return to the story. It was a lot.
It was heavy. I mean, I I know we say tomorrow isn't guaranteed, but my tomorrow was almost guaranteed to not come.
So I think every day I woke up, I was. Just like Still here, you know, and for me, it became a game since I was a kid, you know, it became a game of the goner's still here. I had this one moment where, you know, my nose itched and I realized I couldn't scratch my nose. And then I very quickly was like, I could go down this path of all the things that I can't do, or I can get excited for the day I get to scratch my nose. And I started looking at the world like that, that every day I woke up, as bad as it was, as hard as it was, I'm still here.
I've got a family that loves me. You know, my mom's painted my nails. And what was crazy is my mom started her day that way too. She would literally wake up and declare her thanks to God for a home, for a hospital, for a bed, for the fact that she can take care of me. We have running water.
My mom's like, sometimes it was just the fact. that we had a roof over our head.
So her gratitude was then reflecting my gratitude.
So we were both doing the same thing, just obviously weren't communicating with it. And so, but it was heavy. I mean, it was really hard. I think day in and day out, you know, for me, it was, it was trying to fight another day to, you know, be able to tell my family I love them. And for her, it was my mom was just trying to fight to, you know, keep me alive and find answers or find help.
But for doctors, I mean, they just were, I mean, I can't tell you how many doctors behind my parents' back would say things along the lines, including this direct quote, can you believe this kid's parents think that she's going to make it? We all know this kid's a goner. I mean, I'll be honest with you, there weren't a lot of uh I think there were moments where I was trying to have hope, but I think there were so many times where circumstances, people, we're essentially canceling that out.
So many people were trying to discount, you know, what God would be capable of. My mom, she's like, we had hope. For so long, and believed that you were there, but we didn't know for sure, and so.
So for those four years, I mean, I... I think initially I had a lot of optimism and hope. And I was like, all right, I have this obituary, but I'm going to write my bucket list too, my like if I survive list. Closing in on the four-year mark, it got really hard too because, um, There were several moments where things were happening and going on, and abuse was occurring that. I couldn't say anything.
And I think that's when I was really trying to fight even to just be seen. And I always say it's like your darkest moments come before the sunrise and before the sun shines. And my darkest moment came where a nurse was choking me. She had her hands around my neck. It was the middle of the night.
And she was trying to just basically, you know, in her words, make it happen quicker and and um And she's choking me. And I think in that moment. It really hit me. of how how helpless I really am. And how I can't even fight back.
This is how I'm going. Like, this is a crazy, you know, end to it. And then, in the very last minute, as I was losing consciousness, she let go and ran out the room. I was uh I was gasping for air. I was confused.
I was ready to just, you know, okay, fine, let's end this. But then. in that moment. I was like, enough is enough. And that's when I made a promise with God.
And I was like, I can't do this anymore, so if you need me. Take me, and if you don't. Just please give me back my life. Give me back my voice. Give me another chance to make a difference in this world.
And if you do give me back my voice, I won't waste a single moment. There was such a peace that came over me after I prayed that prayer, and I could just, I was aware that I wasn't alone. You know, the Bible talks about the peace that surpasses understanding, and I can't tell you how peaceful, despite the chaos, I was in that state, and that couldn't be. From anyone else, other than God's love and God looking out for me, and then He just kept showing up. Like the way God kept showing up in our life, in my family's life, in the people and the prayers, and um.
My mom, you know, she's like, since you were a little girl, I've always been able to tell you these big brown eyes. I've always been able to tell what you were thinking. And for four years, I kept searching and I kept searching for her and I kept believing. And then I get the ability to blink. In that moment, she saw me and she saw me tracking her, and she walks up to me.
And what's so fascinating is before she asked me, you know, if I could hear her blink twice, she hesitated. And I asked her later on, you know, why did you hesitate? And she says, because sometimes it's scary to have hope. And faith is really a lot about what you can't see, but what you have to believe. And sometimes it's scary when you're on the verge of that cliff and you're about to take that leap.
And she's like, and I had to remember that God would either have a net for me or wings to catch me. And so then she asks me, and she just, you know, she's like, I just decided if not now, when. And so she said, if you can hear me, blink twice. Right away, my mom called my dad and said, She's here, she's been in here this whole time. And then my brothers were thrilled.
My brothers are like the coolest people because you hear these stories when one child gets sick. The other ones act out, and they didn't. They just stepped up and they just met me where I was through every phase. Even when I was in my vegetative state, I used to tuck my socks in when I went to bed at night. And I used to have a very specific, you know, blanket here, stuffed animal here.
And every night, the boys would come in with my mom and like tuck me in and make sure that Blankie was here, you know, stuffy was here. And then William always tucked my socks in to the point where he would call my mom when we were in the hospital and be like, Did you tuck her socks in? Like, make sure her socks are tucked in. And so. When I was recovering and when I was coming out of it, like they just found ways to communicate with me.
You know, okay, let's get her a communication board.
Okay, let's she has one finger working. Let's see if she can flip someone off. Like, it was just very much. They just met me where I was, and then when I was trying to figure out to hold my head up, they would help me with that. Like, they just, my whole family just rallied and said, We're just happy you're here, let alone what you can or can't do.
Like, we'll figure it out. And then after that, my mom started asking me all these yes and no questions. Have you been here? And then she's like, Are they treating you okay? Because she had some suspicions.
And then I answered, No, they weren't treating me right. And so she then started speaking back and saying, No, I don't need to leave her. I can stay with her 24/7. From there, it was learning how to talk, learning how to sit up, learning how to hold my head up, learning how to just function in a wheelchair. But then just it like life went on right and so I'm still trying to figure out how to navigate high school when I didn't even go to middle school.
And so it just became this. crazy roller coaster ride that I don't think I was properly strapped in for. And, you know, I'm given this hero cape of this miraculous story. And. I didn't know Where I fit in, and then all of a sudden I had to go be this hero to everyone.
I had to achieve the next thing, and the next thing, and the next thing, and The world has gone on for four years. You're not. I wasn't the same person, you know, medically or physically. I was in a wheelchair, but also psychologically, I had just gone through four years of.
So much trauma that how do I live this normal life? I had prepared to die for four years. I hadn't prepared to live.
Okay. And you've been listening to Victoria Arlin. She had to flip the script in her head to keep herself going and search for things to be grateful for. That line that really hit me, The Goner is still here. She joked about herself.
And to herself, and there was the mom with that same gratitude. She's still here. I can still paint her nails, looking for those little pieces of gratitude to get through the day and get past the hard stuff. And then that line, can you believe these kids' parents? Think she'll make it.
What a thing to hear from the doctors who you think are taking care of you. When we come back, the story of Victoria Arlen continues. here on Our American Stories. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years.
And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q.
That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer. Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter.
Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at let's get real about skincancer.com. You've watched racing.
Now get behind the wheel. At Kaizen Autosport Racing School at VIR, professional race drivers teach you how to drive faster, safer, and with more confidence on one of America's legendary racetracks. Never driven on track? We'll get you started. Already experienced, we'll take you to the next level.
Ready to race? Earn your competition license and learn real wheel-to-wheel racecraft. Stop watching, start driving. Go to racevir.com. That's racevir.com.
Upgrade to elite checking from America's Christian Credit Union and earn up to 3.5% APY. Plus everyday perks and access to your paycheck up to two days early with early pay. Don't settle. Choose checking that rewards you and aligns with your values. Visit America's ChristianCU.com forward slash iHeart.
Minimum balance of one cent required to earn advertised APY. Early pay not guaranteed. APY equals annual percentage yield. Membership eligibility required. And CUA insured.
Love discovering new music before anyone else? Stop being just a listener. Start making the rules and work with your new favorite artist before they even break. The Beam is a free music competition app where real emerging artists compete, you vote, and massive brands step in to fund the next big name. Your votes change careers.
Find them first. Download thebeam at thebeam.com or on the app store. Vote for an artist you love or discover your next obsession. It's the first music chart that A's artists. And we continue with our American Stories and to Victoria Arlen's story.
After four years trapped inside her own body, Victoria had done what doctors thought was impossible. She'd come back. But coming back also meant stepping into a world that had moved on without her. What came next would take her to places she never could have imagined. Here again is Victoria with the rest of her story.
Coming out of it was such a weird culture shock on many levels, right? Like Facebook existed, Justin Bieber existed. I mean, don't even get me started on touchscreen.
So it was a, there was a culture shock, but there was also just this. I don't I don't know where I stand. I don't know where my place is. I wasn't allowed to fall apart because all of a sudden I had to play catch up and I had to go be, I had to go prove the doctors wrong and I had to go, you know, they said I'd never be a functioning member of society.
Well, I'll show you. And so in the midst of playing catch up, I actually just didn't know how to stop and didn't know how to actually go, wait, am I okay? Is this, this was not normal when I went through. Yeah. Next thing you know, two years later, I'm winning this gold medal, and then my story gets shared without my permission.
So then, all of a sudden, you know, my trauma is being glorified on a very big stage. And then it went into my mom opened up Project Walk, this incredible facility that just gave me a chance to get healthy and get stronger. And then in the middle of that, I get into broadcasting. And then, um, I learned to walk after 10 years of being in a wheelchair, and then a year later, I get asked to do Dancing with the Stars, and my family's like, You just learned how to walk, and I was like, Yeah, we'll figure it out. As much as all those things were great and awesome, a big battle that I was facing behind the scenes was that all these accomplishments were essentially anesthetizing the trauma and all the things that I knew God had been nudging me to, you know, take care of myself.
But sometimes you get so caught up in filling everyone else's cup that you forget to fill yours.
So all these things I was doing was great and it was exciting. And then other people were excited. And then I'm going on stage, and people are making a lot of money off of my story. But no one had cared to ask. Hey, what did this whole what is what like Have you addressed what just happened?
And me not really having a choice but to continue to. Keep defying odds and keep doing that, but at the expense of me just hitting an absolute breaking point where, you know, I didn't think I could have a bad day. I didn't think I could. I think I felt guilty for feeling the way I was feeling. And then I just didn't have, I didn't have time to breathe.
And then that was just kind of a, in the midst of such success, I was also struggling so badly. And it was like, I just didn't know that it was okay to not be okay until I just hit an absolute breaking point. When I was really struggling in my 20s, I would say to my mom, I had more peace in a vegetative state than I do right now. And I don't understand it. And I think I was, you know, running for my faith a little bit.
I was just so, I was struggling so badly. And so, I didn't know what anxiety and depression was. It wasn't something. That we were talking about. And I was like, I'm fine, I'm fine.
And also, being a kid that was told that you were doing it in your head, and you know, you're crazy, I had this guard up of, I'm not crazy, I'm not crazy. You know, so I never talked about how I felt or what my feelings were because I was like, I'm not crazy, I'm not crazy. I was just having three to four panic attacks a day. I was so anxious. I was barely sleeping.
I couldn't eat. But all I could do was show up to work, right? I could be on TV, I could be this character, and I could show up on stage and do all these things because it looked like I had so much going for me. And then, um, I got to a point where I, one night, I just hit this absolute breaking point, and I tried to take my own life. I was literally like, I'm done, and I'm doing, I'm ending this now, and I can't keep going like this.
And I couldn't even, I didn't even know how to pray at that point. I was so broken, and I was such a shell of a human. And I didn't necessarily have the best people around me, other than my family. But even then, I was trying to shield them that everything was okay.
So I just got to this point where I was like, I can't do this anymore. I went to leave my mom a message because my hands were shaking too badly to write a note. And I called her to leave her a message because I was like, it's 3 a.m. She's not going to pick up the phone. On the second to last ring, she picks up the phone.
And um I just said to her, I was like, I can't do this anymore. I can't do this anymore. I don't want to do this anymore. I can't. I can't be this character people want me to be.
And I feel like I've let God down. I feel like I've let my family down. I feel like I've let everyone down. And I just, I think it would just be easier. If I just Close this book.
And um And she just listened and she said, it's okay to not be okay. And I was like, it is? No, it's not. And She just spoke life into me, but met me where I was. It was just, she was so calm.
And she goes, Was I scared? Absolutely. She goes, But I could feel God just. Guiding me and speaking with you. And she's like, and I could tell your spirit was just so broken.
You didn't need me to preach. You needed me to just pray and just be with you in this moment. And then she stayed with me till the sun came up. She drove three hours down. And she found me, and I was just like on the floor.
And she just sat with me, and she just said, she's like, okay. She goes, we got this. She goes, I'm in. And I was like, I'm drowning. And she goes, well, thank goodness I know how to swim.
Uh We met with a trauma therapist. I started just addressing what had happened and started taking care of the little girl who had been.
So torn apart. And then I started healing. Like I started actually dealing with the trauma and I was so afraid. I was so afraid to Go back there, but I was in turn suffocating myself by not letting it out. And so, um, started just getting help and finding my faith again and finding peace again, and but actual peace and realizing you can actually smile that's genuine, not from a place that's hiding your pain.
After that was when I started just speaking to people around me. I'm like, how many other people are hiding in plain sight and struggling like I was, or on the verge of jumping off a cliff? And I just started realizing how many other people are struggling. And so then I kept trying to look for resources and I kept trying to look for help to be able to give to other people because not everyone can find a therapist like I found or have a mom that's gonna pick up the phone at 3 a.m. or have anyone that's gonna pick up the phone at 3 a.m.
And so I knew there was a purpose for the pain that I had gone through. And just the fact that some people don't even have a wheelchair or a ramp to get in and out of their home just horrified me. And so my mom and I were like, we need to do something about this. And so we created our Victory Scholarship Program. And we're just a quality of life organization that provides resources, equipment, care to individuals with mobility challenges.
So whether that's nursing care hours, adaptive equipment, home modifications, car modifications, whatever it is that is your victory and that will help you improve your quality of life. We always joke there's no manual for this world. And we provide that and to the best of our ability, just support for people, because I think when you go through something, So catastrophic, like my family, you just feel so alone. And so, this foundation is kind of that. That hand that's saying, hey, we see you and we want to help you.
And let's turn our pain into a purpose and help someone else do the same. I had to go back to, you know, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15-year-old Victoria and say, hey, girl, like, it's going to be okay. And we're going to be okay too. And you don't have to keep running. I had to find forgiveness, and I had to, you know, I lived by the verse of forgive them for they know not what they do.
There is cruelty out there, and there was this little girl whose innocence was ripped away and who was tortured. And it was something that forever altered my life. It took almost two decades to really address that and You know, we had some of the best lawyers in the country come to my parents and say, This is insane. Like, you have literally this signed, sealed, delivered case of malpractice and abuse and all of that. And I stopped it.
I went to my parents. I was like, I don't want their blood money, and I don't want, you know, I don't want them denying what they did. And also, There's no number in the world that's gonna give back what they took away from me. And what's going to is finding forgiveness.
Sometimes, you know, the plan for redemption, if you will, is. being the bigger person is being the person that actually does something about it. I've never been comfortable with the whole fame and notoriety thing, but if it helps one person, then that's worth it. That's what makes that view that I fought so hard for definitely worth it. Throughout all of this, my entire family found God and really didn't have anyone else left.
And my mom would say, You know, you went on this crazy journey. She goes, But I really got to know God through it. And even to this day, I laugh because I have had doctors all over the country where I've seen it. There have been some that were maybe not believers. And then they look at my medical chart, they look at the diagnosis, and then they look at the person standing in front of them.
The mic Well, it's a Jesus thing, so I said we can just blame Jesus. How about that? And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Madison Derricott. And a special thanks to Victoria Arlin for sharing her remarkable journey. Her book is The View Is Worth It.
Go to Amazon or the usual suspects wherever you buy your books. She tried to take her own life. That's how bad things got. As she was competing and doing what she was supposed to do, she hadn't addressed that trauma of hers. Then that call with her mom.
finding the therapist, finding room for prayer, finding room for faith again. a remarkable story of Christian courage and sacrifice. Here on Our American Stories. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years.
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