Diane Matter

This is Diane Matter. Diane is perhaps the strongest person I know. If you haven't noticed, Diane doesn't have any part of her arm from the elbow down. What you can't see is that she also doesn't have any part of her legs from the knees down. I met her when I was probably around three or four years old. Her husband was working as a coach for my dad's basketball teams and I've only know her without arms or legs. But long before we met Diane was diagnosed with a flesh-eating disease which led to the removal of her limbs in order to save her life. She went through hundreds of thousands of hours of physical therapy. A lot of times she was so close to giving up. She had to give up everything in her life in order for the chance at a normal life. Her two kids grew up fast and her husband took on a role her could have never imagined. She gave up her job, hobbies, and a life she imagined. Her life could have been over.

But she never gave up fighting, and now she is one of the most badass incredible, and fearless people I know. We go four-wheeling every spring and she beats everyone to the top of the mountain. Two years ago when she went to Punta Cana, she went parasailing and swam with stingrays. Diane has special water-proof legs so that she can go swimming and kayaking as much as she would like. Before she lost her limbs, she worked as a nurse and now she's a volunteer at Mount Nittany Medical Center. She raised two amazing kids who, coincidentally, grew up to become a nurse and an EMT.

Never in my life have I seen Diane as "disabled" because she doesn't act like she is. I used to get so mad when I was little and we would go out because people would always stare at her. I would start yelling at adults when I was as young as six years old and confront them about them staring at her. But she told me that it was okay and that it wasn't their fault they didn't understand. She taught me that not everyone was raised how I was and to give them the benefit of the doubt. Everything that Diane does in her life shows me that I can also do whatever I want to do in my life. She taught me to keep fighting even when it seems like all the odds are stacked against you because you'll only come out stronger. The things she's able to do as a quadriplegic amazes me and everyone around her.The only thing that I know of that she can't do now is crack an egg, which I don't think she's too worried about that.