A ROAD LESS TRAVELED

In the fall of 2014 I was what you'd consider a normal high school Senior. Most of my time was spent working on college applications and preparing for music school auditions. My passions resided in piano, guitar, cello, voice and dance. I knew music was what I wanted to pursue for the rest of my life. I was a normal healthy teenage kid despite a minor case of Senioritits. Because my friends were busy with college apps and winter concerts, we decided to celebrate my 17th birthday on December 21st, the day before winter vacation was to begin.

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FIRST PERSON: AMAZING GRACE

Grace Fisher, a 17-year-old senior at Santa Barbara High School, was looking forward to her belated birthday celebration. It was December 21, 2014, and friends of the lively teen and aspiring musician had begun to gather when Grace felt numbness in her hands and pain in her neck. The numbness quickly spread to her feet and in the short time it took for her mother, Debbie, to take Grace to the emergency room at Cottage Hospital, it had progressed to her waist.

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