Granted, it is a difficult age for any teenager, but coping with a life-changing handicap made matters much harder. “It took me months to sort of regroup myself,” she advised TODAY,” and I got it in my mind,’Alright, I am blind. ”’ A Long Island native, Pagonis nearly grew up in the water. She had taken up aggressive freestyle swimming only a couple of months before going completely blind. While she excelled in the game in spite of restricted eyesight, an”abusive team” air prompted her to give up the contest. After months of treatment, the stubborn teen was ready to return at the swim–just swimming was not sufficient for Pagonis. She…

In 2012, Patti O’Malley and her son were going through recovery for addiction together when her son drove his car off a bridge only five miles away from their home in Abilene, Kansas and relapsed. When he was lost by her, she knew she had to do anything. “I began reaching out to other women, saying,’Let us talk about addiction,”’ O’Malley says. She opened her home to groups of women suffering from chemical abuse. She did the unthinkable: She gave her home to the girls. They had a place to stay after completing rehabilitation programs. “The only place they know to return to after rehab is where they have come…