Emily Bowman stood up both eagerly and gingerly, holding her cane, and walked to the stage. Her mom, Deb, followed behind just in case Emily needed some help up the stairs. Deb, Emily and Emily’s dad Dale had been sitting for over an hour waiting for Emily’s moment in the sun.
On Monday, Feb. 5, Cherokee County female high school athletes celebrated National Girls and Women in Sports Day with an annual ceremony honoring a current athlete, team, and alumnus from each Cherokee high school. Bowman played basketball at Woodstock high, graduated in 2011, and then went to Kennesaw State University.
But everything literally came crashing to a halt on Feb. 13, 2013. While visiting friends in Athens, Emily was walking alongside a road and got struck by a drunk driver, who fled the scene. She suffered severe brain injuries, prompting multiple surgeries and years of therapy. At one point, doctors removed a piece of her skull to relieve brain swelling. The swelling was causing big swings in her bio rhythms. She almost didn’t make it.
“We’re just one of the lucky ones, we got to keep her,” her father, who is also WSB Traffic Trooper Dale Bowman said.
She eventually moved back home, had to use a wheelchair and was unable to talk. But in the years since, she has learned to walk, talk and read again. Her eventual goal is regained independence.
“To persevere means to never give up on doing something, despite the difficulty or the delay in achieving success,” Bowman said from the podium, in her slow and deliberate cadence. As she accepted her honor, the crowd of several hundred teenage girls gave her loud applause and a standing ovation. After the speech at Cherokee High School, they stopped by to talk to her and take pictures.
Bowman soaked up the moment.
“I had a good time speaking, because I got comments on it after I spoke,” Bowman said, smiling. “And before it, I was nervous, but I guess it all paid off and turned out well.”
Bowman’s encouraging words were nearly matched by her humor. She read a Michael Jordan quote during her speech about deciding to climb a wall, instead of turning from it. She then ad libbed, “I hope you never [have to] do that,” which spurred some laughs in the crowd, including her own.
After the speech, she laughed about calling Michael Jordan “Michael Jackson”, even though she had practiced reading the speech many times. Her dad smiled, “Every day is something different - she keeps us in stitches.”
Emily’s mom said that they hope to get her back into KSU soon in some inclusionary classes and, of course, they will continue therapy, so Emily can get better at her speech and motor movements.
But the future could wait a day. Emily Bowman on this Monday was a rock star at the end of this ceremony. Plaque-in-hand, the Bowman family has this as one of many tokens acknowledging what they overcame and how they are examples to others of how determined they are.
This family thought they would lose their daughter and there she stood, holding an award, cracking jokes, walking, and flashing her beautiful smile. The drunken indiscretions of one young man in a truck five years ago somehow didn’t take this from them. That’s the biggest trophy in all of this — life.
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