Paula Umaña was an internationally-recognized tennis player, a generational athlete. Then, her ability to walk was taken from her.

Born in Costa Rica, Paula was taught to play tennis by her father. And from a young age, she showed a natural skill and talent for the sport. Before long, she was the #1 player in Costa Rica, then the #1 player in Central America, then the #280 player in the world.

After meeting her husband Serge, they began to have children, and over the next few years, she gave birth to four daughters. After she gave birth to her fifth child, her only son Charles, a nervous system disorder known as chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) attacked her body, leaving her paraplegic, unable to walk with her family, carry out daily tasks, or play the sport that she loved.

“Mom, are you going to walk one day?” her son would ask.

“I don’t know, Charles. You have to ask Jesus,” Paula said. Charles ran to a crucifix in their house.

“Hey, Jesus! Can my mom walk?”

The next day, some kids began to tease Charles because his mom couldn’t walk. He responded, “My mom is going to walk. I already asked Jesus.”

Over the next few years, Paula’s body miraculously began to recover feeling and movement in the lower half of her body. Eventually, she was able to acquire leg braces that compensated for her legs’ weakness, and when she came home for the first time with the ability to walk, her son was waiting at the door.

“Mom, I want to see you walk.”

She began to walk around the house, here to there, there to here. It was a miracle. Paula was never supposed to walk again. Charles ran back to that crucifix in the house.

“Thank you, Jesus!”

Watch Paula’s entire address below:

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