I believe in the power of words. // Many people speak / before they think. // But I know the value of words. // Words can make you, / break you, / they can heal your soul, / they can damage you forever. // So, / I always try to use positive words in my life / wherever I go. // They call it adversity, / I call it opportunity. // They call it a weakness, / I call it strength. // They call me disabled, / I call myself differently able. // They see my disability. // They see my disability, / I see my ability. // There are some incidents / that happen in your life. // And those incidents are so strong / that they change your DNA. // Those incidents or accidents / are so strong / that they break you / physically. // They deform your body / but they transform your soul. // Those incidents break you, / deform you / but they mold you / into the best version of you. // And the same thing happened to me. // And I am going to share / what exactly happened to me. // I was 18 years old / when I got married. // And this thing / I'm sharing for the very first time / on an international level. // I was 18 years old / when I got married. // I belong to a very conservative family, / a Baloch family / where good daughters / never say no to their parents. // My father wanted me to get married / and all I said was / if that makes you happy, / I will say ‘YES’. // And of course, / it was never / a happy marriage. // Just about / after 2 years of getting married, / about 9 years ago, / I met a car accident. // Somehow / my husband / fell asleep / and the car / fell into the ditch. // He managed to jump out, / saved himself. // I'm happy for him. // But I stayed inside the car / and I sustained a lot of injuries. // The list is a bit long. // Don't get scared. // I'm perfectly fine now. // Radius ulna of my right arm / were fractured. // The wrist was fractured. // Shoulder bone and collarbone / were fractured. // My whole ribcage got fractured, / and because of the rib cage injury, / lungs and liver / were badly injured. // I couldn’t breathe. // I lost urine and bowel control. // That’s why / I have to wear the bag / wherever I go. // But that injury / that changed me / and my life completely / as a person and my perception towards living my life / was the spine injury. // Three vertebrae of my backbone / were completely crushed. // And I got paralyzed / for the rest of my life. // So this accident / took place in a far-flung area / in the outskirts of a very small province, / Balochistan / where there was no first aid, / no hospital, / no ambulance. / I was in the middle of nowhere / in that toppled car. // Many people came to rescue. // They gave me CPR. // They drag me out of the car. // And while they were dragging me out / I got the complete transaction of my spinal cord. // And now / there was this debate going on, / should we keep it here, / she is going to die, / or where should we go. // There was no ambulance. // The was this four-wheeler jeep / standing in the corner of the street. // They said, / put her in the back of the jeep / and take her to the hospital / which is 3 hours away / from this place. // And I still remember that bumpy ride. // I was all broken. // They threw me at the back of the jeep / and they rushed me to the hospital. // That is / where I realized / that my half body was fractured / and half was paralyzed. // I finally ended up / in a hospital / where I stayed for two and a half months. // I underwent multiple surgeries. // Doctors have put / a lot of titanium in my arms / and there was a lot of titanium at my back / to fix my back. // That’s why, / people in Pakistan, / call me / the ‘Iron Lady’ of Pakistan. //