By now you must have seen the moving Rebel Sport advert featuring Sophie Pascoe and what fuled her ‘why?’.
The family have only recently talked publicly about the accident. Dad, Gary, who was driving the ride-on mower, calls the accident a black dot that never vanishes from his mind. No one blames Gary – the accident happened in spite of his considerable caution – but he cannot forget it and it is a pain in his life like the pain in Sophie’s leg. What I think is to the Pascoe’s immense credit is that they ignore neither the guilt nor the disability, but they do not allow those things to poison their hearts, minds or family life. Instead, there is energy to be more – more loving, more connected, more encouraging. At 15 years of age, Sophie stood on the podium at Beijing with her first Paralympic gold medal, hugely proud to be a world champion. The eyes of the world were on her but her eyes were on her dad. Tears in her eyes, tears in his. She was a champion for him. Closure.
Stress happens – accidents, illness, tragedy. Some couples part, some families die in their hearts at those times – a tragedy on top of a tragedy. What we can learn from Sophie Pascoe’s family is that maybe you cannot choose the stress, but you can choose whether the stress will push you apart, or push you together.
Written by the theparentingplace.com
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