Ella's Story

“There is a rainbow at the end of every storm.”

Ella never understood this saying until she experienced her own storm about 16 months ago. Since then, she’s been looking for her rainbow.

In May 2021, Ella and her family were driving home from a basketball tournament when a car crossed the highway median and hit them head-on. Ella and her family survived, but their lives were torn apart, and the accident began a long recovery journey.

Prior to the accident, Ella was a straight-A student and athlete with dreams of a collegiate basketball career. Although the road was not easy, Ella was well on her way to achieving her dreams. No stranger to hard work, Ella had been in and out of physical therapy since she was five months old.

Ella had never played sports until middle school when she fell in love with basketball; at that moment, her life changed. Despite having some catching up to do, as the other kids had been playing for years, she was willing to do whatever it took to improve. Countless hours on the court, weightlifting, participating in other sports during the off-season to stay in shape and training with some of the best coaches around. None of it was easy, but basketball was Ella’s passion, and she loved it.

Ella’s hard work was paying off, and she was super focused on making her best better when it all came to a screeching halt after her accident. The accident haunts Ella to this day, making it hard for her to drive and even harder to ride as a passenger. Seeing her parents injured, her primary support system, on top of her own injuries, was sometimes too much to handle. They are all trying to get back to normal, but their normal is different than before.

Though Ella’s injuries were invisible, a concussion and a shoulder injury, the damage they caused was much more significant than she realized. She experienced debilitating headaches and nausea during the summer, and things got even worse when school started. Thankfully, Ella was referred to Origami.

During Ella’s intake, Origami’s team discovered her eyes were not automatically focusing, which was a huge turning point. Finally, Ella knew why her headaches were so bad and why her summer basketball court performance was such a struggle. Between the headaches, nausea, and pain, Ella struggled to keep her grades up and to participate in sports, depression took over, and for the first time in her life, she wanted to give up.

Recovery has been far from easy, but Ella is a fighter. At Origami, Ella received physical, occupational, speech, and vision therapy, and counseling to help with her depression and anxiety.

“I had never heard of Origami before the collision, and now that I have, I am a big fan. It was a blessing to be able to go to one place to get all the help I needed. Everyone at Origami seemed to care about me and worked hard to make therapy fun. Even though my recovery is not complete, I can’t imagine where I would be without their help. My life has changed, but I know it can still be beautiful. Mostly, I hope to use my experiences to improve someone else’s life – maybe that is the rainbow I am seeking.”