Chapter 7: Learning to Stand

The surgery lasted eleven hours.
Doctors remained cautiously optimistic.
No miracles.
Only science.
Pain.
Months of rehabilitation.
The first time Clara stood between parallel bars, she lasted four seconds.
Then she collapsed.
She cried.
Not because she failed.
Because no one had ever allowed her to try.
Every week became another victory.
Six seconds.
Twenty.
Forty-five.
One minute.
Then...
One afternoon...
She took a single step.
The therapists applauded.
Emily cried openly.
May you like
Noah smiled from the hallway.
Clara laughed harder than she ever had in her life.