Lessons from a 16-year-old’s ‘on fleek’ life — and her extraordinary death - The Washington Post

"What can anyone learn from the cruelty of this kind of rapacious, random and merciless cancer?

Abby’s own way of living. That’s what there is to learn here.

She was so utterly herself that she was infectious. She was loud, hungry, funny and in­cred­ibly brave. And because every person — her teachers, her doctors, her friends, her neighbors — had the same description, you also know that she was real.

The swim team members who spoke at her service didn’t say she was a naturally gifted, effortlessly winning swimmer. Because she wasn’t.

But she was dogged in her dedication. She got up at 4 a.m. to practice, then went to school, then got back in the pool to practice some more. She trained and trained, willing and sculpting her average, teen body into that of a champion swimmer.

The naturally gifted swimmers, those born with the broad, strong shoulders and paddle-sized hands, said they’d see her outpratice, outwork them. “She inspired us all,” one swimmer said.

And when she did break her own records, shatter her own walls, what did she do? She went around congratulating her teammates on their great times, not her own.

The way she lived her life in that pool was what people remember. Not her best times."



Lessons from a 16-year-old’s ‘on fleek’ life — and her extraordinary death - The Washington Post