Beauty pageant winner overcomes physical challenges
Herald-TimesMay 16, 2017
"My list of medical issues is ridiculous," said Hacker, a paraplegic who uses a wheelchair.
Even with these medical problems, Hacker proudly wears her title of Ms. Wheelchair
The Ms. Wheelchair America program was started in 1972 by physician
"It's about being your own advocate," Hacker explained.
She suffered her first stroke in
The left side of her body was flaccid, unable to move. She couldn't speak, due to speech aphasia. As she went through therapy at the hospital and then at Meadowood, there were times she was ready to give up.
Hacker recalls someone at Meadowood brought her some paints and a sketch pad to distract her during the nine months of therapy there. Hacker did not appreciate the kind gesture.
"Well, I told her where to put those," the 48-year-old said. "I wasn't a happy person."
Her full-time caregiver and partner,
"It was emotional and frustrating for her," Hogue said.
But Hacker persisted. She drew strength from those around her, including Hogue. All throughout her
And she would decide later to take up painting after all.
She first learned to paint with her mouth, since she couldn't move much of her body with any coordination. Later she used her foot, and eventually her hand.
All this progress, and then a big setback came barreling out of nowhere last year.
A driver, busy texting rather than watching the road, slammed into her at the intersection of
She was crossing the street in her motorized wheelchair, her neighbors' little boy in her lap. She was in the midst of traveling to
She managed to fling the boy out of her lap. He suffered some scrapes and bruises, but she was hit and thrown into the air, flipping three times.
Hacker said a witness to the accident still communicates with her through Facebook. The woman's child, who was with her, said "Mommy, that was like a movie" when the boy saw Hacker flip through the air.
"It set her back," Hogue said of the accident. "It hurt her mobility."
But
Hogue described
"Without them we wouldn't be living here," Hogue said. "I'd be living in a shack in the woods so she wouldn't be in the nursing home."
Being at home and in the
Hacker said she's tired of the stares, the careful parents who pull their kids away from her instead of asking her questions about her condition. She's tired of feeling like she's being rude if she just tries to stand up for herself. So she does what she can.
Sometimes she will make car noises at children when she's at the store and say "race me, race me." They play along, laughing as they race her in her wheelchair.
She's not different, she's not useless. She's a person, Hogue explained.
"She thinks she's not useful in the chair, but she is," Hogue said. "She's just like you and I."
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