A heart for others
Allyssa smiling at World Services for the Blind.
Only 6 years after losing her sight at the age of 13, she is learning how to ease others' pain.
Allyssa is a sweet-tempered 19-year-old with a forgiving heart. She grew up in a small town in Tennessee, and her childhood appeared normal. Her school experience was one that every parent dreads for their children. Allyssa was the victim of bullying in 7th grade. She was told over and over that she needed to die, and that she had no purpose. The parents reached out to the school and the counselors, but to no avail. Without friends, Allyssa began to believe the words that were repeated to her.
It was the first day of summer vacation when she shot herself in the head.
She was discovered by her younger sister, who alerted her parents. After being rushed to the hospital, she was given a 0.3% chance of survival. It is likely that she would never hear, smell, taste, or see again if she survived. There would be no way for her to eat or drink on her own. It would leave her vegitative.
Her parents said, “Keep trying. Do what you can.”
A month later, she responded to her mother’s voice calling her by her nickname, Pooh.
Thankfully, Allyssa survived. After a long recovery at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville and Scottish Heights Rehabilitation Center in Georgia, she bravely returned to public school for a few hours a day in 8th grade. In ninth grade, she attended and later graduated from Tennessee School for the Blind and Hickman High School. She never missed a beat. Her next step was to enter the Tennessee Rehab Center for the Blind. With the pandemic, all classes were to be virtual, including Orientation and Mobility. In order to not lose momentum, Allyssa began researching alternative options. Most centers had closed. WSB, however, remained open and continued its services.
There's a little known fact that most blind people have very limited choices in where they can go for vocational training or rehabilitation. Blind people are assigned a state specialist and have few choices.
Today, Allyssa is excited about beginning the Massage Therapy program. However, timing was on her side. A donor and WSB Board Member discovered that Federal law limited access to choices for the blind and visually impaired a few years ago, and decided to set up a scholarship fund for those who are ready to begin training, but not yet in the system. Allyssa was applied for and received the Ferrell Fund Scholarship.
According to her, she is inspired to "get to living" each day and wants to make a positive impact.
“I want to make people feel better. I can take away their tension (through massage therapy). I can take away their pain.”