December 2004 Ensign - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

“I’m not going through this life to endure,” Emily says. “I’m going through this life to help others endure.”
During the same time as these pictures were taken, Emily visited other patients struggling with similar challenges.
school for only two hours a day. But she felt an urgency
about education. On her first day back at school, Emily
told her mother, “I’ve worked too hard to get here. I don’t
want to leave early.” Speaking, writing, and
walking were difficult for
her. Even though she was
still going to therapy for several
hours every afternoon,
Emily persevered and went
to school full-time.
Sister Jensen attended
classes with her daughter
every day for six months to
assist her. At first Emily needed
to be pushed around in a wheelchair.
As soon as she was able to
walk at all, Emily refused to ride
and would have her mother sit in
the wheelchair while she pushed
her from behind, using the wheelchair for support.
An aide helped Emily at school during her senior year,
and Emily graduated with her class on 31 May 2001. As she
slowly walked across the stage to receive her diploma, those
in the audience rose to their feet and gave Emily a standing
ovation. Everyone clapped. Some cheered. Many cried. Emily
realized that afternoon that her faith and determination
Twenty months after had already touched
Emily’s accident, her hundreds of lives.
mother, grandparents,
and cousin were in “If I Can, They Can”
an accident in which Emily has gone on to
Emily’s grandmother LDS Business College,
was killed. Emily’s where, with substantial
mother was seriously help from teachers and
injured. Emily wrote fellow students, she is
this letter to her studying to become a
mother. It says, recreational therapist.
“Mom, You can Her goal is to be able to
be greater than help people, especially
anything that young people, who
happens to are going through chal-
you. Have a lenges similar to her
fantastic day!” own. As Emily says,
“Therapy is the one job I can do where my disability is an
advantage, not a disadvantage. I can help people see that
they can make it. If I can, they can.”
Emily’s family and friends agree that therapy is a good
field for her. Sister Jensen says, “Emily’s disabilities give
ENSIGN DECEMBER 2004 33
PHOTOGRAPH OF LETTER BY CRAIG DIMOND