Against all odds: Liberty Hill alum Sedona Prince survives broken leg and uses her voice for activism
LIBERTY HILL, Texas — Sometimes, even the smallest of voices can make the most prominent sound.
Earlier this year, Oregon Ducks player Sedona Prince made that quickly went viral, evaluating the difference between the general setup of ladies鈥� match versus the boys鈥攕pecifically the differences between the women鈥檚 and men鈥檚 鈥榳eight rooms鈥�.
In the video shot from the NCAA 2021 women鈥檚 basketball tournament, Sedona clearly shows the huge difference between the fully stocked men鈥檚 鈥榳eight room鈥� in Indianapolis and the little rack of dumbbells and a few yoga mats in the women鈥檚 weight room in San Antonio.
This video garnered a lot of attention in a very short time. In a single day, the video was shared over 100,00 times on Twitter only. It is this video that sparked a national debate on how women are treated in athletics.
In her own words, Prince 鈥淚鈥檓 not as big as most of the other women鈥檚 basketball players, but I was like, I could do this. I have the power to do this, and my mom is always teaching me to just stick up for myself and do the best thing that I can.鈥�
She might not have been anticipating the attention her video got, but she likely left a permanent mark in the history of women鈥檚 athletics in this country with just a single act of faith.
Her leg injury and recovery journey
This comes soon after Prince came back from nursing a severe leg injury. Then, in August 2018, Sedona broke her right tibia and fibula while competing with the under-18 basketball crew in Mexico City.
She was flown back into the country and had an urgent extensive surgery鈥攕he had a rod surgically inserted into her right leg.
In her determination to quickly recover and get back to her team, Prince started actively doing weight-bearing workouts and other exercise routines soon after, barely a month after her injury.
Although things started to look up for the basketball star, the recovery did not go as expected, and in January 2019, her right leg started to swell and ache uncontrollably. This led her to seek further medical care in New York.
The doctors in New York discovered that her leg had not healed after all, and instead, part of her tibia had died and was septic. A large dose of an antibiotic followed.
As if the leg issues were not enough, the antibiotics prescribed reacted with Prince鈥檚 body, and before long, they started to precipitate toxins into her kidneys.
In an interview, Tambra Prince, Sedona鈥檚 mother 鈥淚 was woken at 3 a.m., straight out of bed, when her kidneys were shutting down鈥擨 mean straight out of bed, my heart was palpitating.鈥�
She adds, 鈥淚 heard: 鈥楽he鈥檚 dying. Go.鈥�”
But through her resilience, she made a full recovery鈥攖hrough all odds. Now she considers her recovery a miracle. It is her recovery journey that evokes her personal mantra, 鈥榮trong and powerful.鈥� She even has a matching tattoo with her mother of this mantra.
To Prince, basketball is her life, but she confesses that she wasn鈥檛 always very good at it.
鈥淚 was the worst player until, honestly, I was in high school,鈥� She 鈥淚 was clumsy, I was tall, I was dorky.鈥�
But despite all that and all the setbacks she has suffered, she has successfully made her name in the athletics world. In addition, she is using her name and her popularity to impact the world positively.
It is not the biggest of guitars that make the best music but the best tuned.
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