Ainika Akuthota, 9

“On the way down I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I remember that my arms were really tense, so when I hit the ground, [the impact] really fractured my right elbow. I was in kindergarten when I was playing on the monkey bars with my best friend. It was my first time doing the monkey bars, and I fell on my third [attempt] and broke my arm. I had to learn how to do daily tasks with my left hand, like writing and getting up from bed. It was frustrating because it wasn’t the best [experience]. For other tasks, I would have to get help from my parents, and I had to adapt to different things with different people. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do a lot of my hobbies and play outside with my friends. I couldn’t dance for a couple of months either because it needed a lot of arm movement. When things got difficult, I would just try and find other things to do to distract myself, because staying at home all day and doing nothing got boring at one point.”