HEROES.

On Fourth of July, people talk about heroes. Heroes who go the extra mile. Who sacrifice. Who serve.

Well, I wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for one hero in particular. A hero who dragged me down a mountain as far as she could after I'd been knocked off a 70-foot cliff by a huge boulder. Who called not one but two search and rescue teams. Who kept me from slipping back into unconsciousness during the entire 9-hour search and rescue ordeal. Who carried my oxygen tank all the way to the ambulance and wrapped her shirt around my head to help staunch the bleeding.

A hero who, for the entire time I've been bedridden at the hospital, fed me, helped me go to the bathroom, helped me sit up and lie down every single time, communicated with all my friends and family constantly, helped arrange for my dad and sister to come visit me, sat in a hospital room all day and slept on a hospital couch all night, kept my spirits up, answered emails and took care of my businesses for me, put ointment on the hundreds of wounds all over my body, listened to my constant screams of pain day and night, and put her own plans on hold to basically did everything for me since I couldn't do anything, and still can't do much, myself.

That is who a hero is, and what a hero does. Thank you for being the greatest hero I’ve ever met, Kathleen Royal. I love you.