We all experience a terrible feeling of loss one time or another that seems to take away our very will to live. Heartache, loss of loved ones, and disappointment with friends can seriously shake our world, leaving us to feel inadequate and unable to move on for years to come.
After this moment you are just not the same. Everything that used to make you happy has lost all meaning and you’re left hanging high and dry, going through life unconsciously as if drifting through time without direction. Being strong and moving on is not easy. The biggest problem is that we don’t have the power to predict when we will be faced with this kind of predicament. They happen when we least expect them and we’re taken by surprise, unprepared and scared, left only to reflect on what we could’ve done to avoid them.
This type of experience marked the life of Diego Oliveira (19). In what was just another ordinary day, after leaving work and going home to pick up his bike to go to school, he was about to have his life completely turned around. The hit was so powerful that the car from the opposite direction flung 30 meters from the crash site."When I fell, I was still conscious. I called my father, but when I was put in the ambulance I fainted. My leg had been crushed and I lost a lot of blood," said Diego. There were 15 surgeries, nearly 2 months of hospitalization (14 days of that period in a coma in ICU), and a transfusion of 66 units of blood. After all this and with his left leg amputated, the first reaction of the adolescent was to get a prosthetic and tell his father, "Do not worry."
Jiu-jitsu is a non- Olympic sport and does not have an exclusive model for disabled people, but has become a means to overcome physical limitations for those who are on the mats. Diego put on the kimono for the first time at the invitation of a friend who was training. Despite having practiced sports like swimming and basketball in a wheelchair, it was in the gentle art he found his passion. "Jiu-Jitsu gave me the motivation to move on. You can’t cry over the difficulties that plague us daily. I learned that obstacles only exist to be overcome. It is in difficult moments that we grow. Pain makes you change yourself, and depending on how you faced it you become stronger." The champion of the Sao Paulo Open 2013 declared.
Diego's victory in life is also repeated in competitions. Even though he doesn’t have his left leg, the new Blue Band of GB Goiania perfected physical fight with opponents on the mat and showed people that we are all equal: "The matt doesn’t care if I am disabled, only whether I am a good fighter and there is fairness in that. It is difficult for all opponents. The way you will face difficulties is what makes a difference. Every day brings a great challenge.”
The difficulties in life's journey are there for everyone. But not everyone can overcome them. However, there are stories that make us regain confidence in our own abilities. Diego is an example of what strong will and perseverance can accomplish. Are you still going to find excuses after hearing his story?
1 – Live every day of your life as if it was your last.
2 - Do not let your problems overwhelm you.
3 – Remember that you are your biggest enemy. The impossible only appears that way because you let it.