True story (a must read) this might let you reconsider your perceived setbacks!

The man who makes a success of an important venture never wails for the crowd. He strikes out for himself. It takes nerve, it takes a great lot of grit; but the man that succeeds has both. Anyone can fail. The public admires the man who has enough confidence in himself to take a chance. These chances are the main things after all. The man who tries to succeed must expect to be criticized. Nothing important was ever done but the greater number consulted previously doubted the possibility. Success is the accomplishment of that which most people think can't be done.
_{Ehm Kannde}

This quote comes in handy as it almost summarizes this hearty story and I assure, after you read this you will excuse your excuses!

She was an 11-years old in Zamboanga city, Philippines. On September 25, 2000 she had gone to fetch water with her uncle. She had no idea what was in stock for her as she meant no one any harm.

As they approached the water source they met a group of guys. They were four in number, carrying very long and sharp machetes. This group stopped them and instructed her uncle to lie with his face down. In fear, he quickly obeyed but this was not enough to stop them from cutting off his head right in front of the little girl.

The girl had recognized that they were their neighbors and she was shocked. In this state she tried to escape but she was just to young to out run such blood thirsty villains especially after knowing that she had recognized them.

As they chased after her she cried out to them to have mercy on her in their local dialect but they weren’t listening. With a long knife, a man slashed her on the neck too. She fell to the ground and lost her consciousness.

Soon she regained her consciousness but the men were still around and seeing their legs, she pretended as though she was dead and kept to her grounds.

As soon as they walked away, the young girl took to her heels half awake and after running for a while she realized both hands were chopped and left dangling from their sockets. Terrified, they girl continued running. She collapsed many times on her way but finally got home.

Upon seeing her daughter, her mother screamed in terror. She wrapped her bloodied child in a blanket and carried her to the hospital.

Now they had to go to the hospital as soon as possible but there was a huge problem -to get to the high way from their home was about 12 Kilometers and they had no vehicle of any kind. It took them 4 hours to get to the highway where they could get a vehicle to the hospital.

When they arrived in the hospital, the doctors thought the girl was going to die. Fortunately after 25 stitches through an operation that lasted 5 hours, the girl survived!
She however lost both her hands.

Guess what?
The next day was her birthday. She was 12 years old now! such a harsh world!

Now pay attention to the rest of the story, what happened from there!

But tragedy didn’t end there. When they went home, they saw their home was gone. It was ransacked and burned down by the goons. Her family was very poor and didn’t have P50,000 for their hospital bills.

Fortunately, Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, a distant relative, paid the bills and helped in getting the perpetrators arrested and was duly sentenced to prison........

The name of the said girl is Maricel Apatan, the lady who literally saw death and walked pass! Instead of staying down and crying to her ancestors, Maricel kept running.

When she could have justified her state because she had no hands, she now uses her wrists in incredible ways that will boggle your mind.

Maricel was cited as the most industrious, best in computer, and most courteous in the School for Crippled Children.

In 2008, she graduated from a course in Hotel and Restaurant Management. She even received a Gold medal for Arts and Crafts.

In 2011, she finished her education to be a chef. Yes, a Chef without hands.

She is a true representation of a fighting spirit, she is a winner and this should serve as huge motivation to you and I do push our limits.

Instead of the continuous complains lets find our strengths and use it! Lets learn make our story spicy by beating the odds!

Success has never been easy so don't even try telling me it is hard. Come on, lets beat life!

These are more pictures of Maricel Apatan and her meals!