Kang Seondeok

```
tw: car accident, death, trauma

```

## Personality

Before the accident, Seondeok was a vibrant and outgoing girl who was always ambitious and fearless. After the accident, she remains kind and wise, but her light had dimmed significantly. Because of her traumas, Seondeok tends to be more reclusive and less adventurous.

## Biography

Growing up, Seondeok always had a love for being in the water. From the moment she was born, via water birth, her heart had been formed by the waves and she never felt more at home than surrounded by the sea. As a child, she loved to swim and surf. Being raised on Jeju Island was perfect for fulfilling her needs of swimming and soon her passion for it evolved into something much more palpable.

By the time Seondeok was a teenager, she was preparing to participate in the Olympics in the sport of swimming. She was the fastest in her town, in her country, and perhaps in the entire world. She had been born and shaped by the waters and they were carrying her into stardom.

After winning a silver medal in the 2008 Olympics for the Republic of Korean, the then nineteen year old Seondeok became the Nation's Hero and was celebrated all over Korea. She was young and full of potential. In her homeland, she became somewhat of a celebrity, participating in commercial deals and obtaining sponsorship of all kinds. She was on top of the world and on top of her game. But it all came crashing down over her like a tsunami.

On her way home from a magazine photo shoot, the car Seondeok was travelling in was hit by an oncoming semi-truck. The driver and two other staff members in the vehicle were killed on impact, but her and her manager happened to survive. Her manager, however, didn't survive the helicopter ride to the hospital and the Nation's Hero was the only survivor.

Upon waking in the ER, Seondeok was told the extent of her injuries. Her shoulder had been broken and her collar bone was shattered. Her hip had been fractured and she had also managed to withstand multiple cracks in her ribs, one of which had just barely punctured her lung. She was alive, but she was in rough shape. Her family and the entire country were rooting for her recovery, but there was more bad news on the way.

Even as she recovered and began to heal, it became evident that Seondeok's health would never be the same. Her lungs were sore and it made it hard to breath. Her bones were healing slowly, but there was too much damage to them. In order to regain full mobility and range of her shoulder and hips, she would need intensive therapy and a lot of time. In a moment's notice, her entire life had been ruined and there was nothing she could do about it. Instead of training for the upcoming Olympics, Seondeok was now on bed rest until her wounds physical and emotion, were healed.

It took two years before she was able to walk on her own again. It took two years before Seondeok could raise her arms above her head. It took two years for her to go from the most talented young woman in Korea to being the biggest tragedy that the country had ever seen. It was hard on her and she struggled with her own emotion turmoil. Alongside the lingering survivor's guilt, she was plagued by the fact that she would most likely never be able to swim professionally again. Or at least not for a long time, and she feared she might be out of her prime by the time she was ready to hit the pool again. Because of this, she sunk into a dark place and she became nothing more than a shell of the vibrant girl she used to be.

After spending years living and training in Seoul, the accident had sent her back to Jeju to live with her parents and family. It was back home that she returned to the waters that had birthed her and found solace in the waves. She used swimming as her therapy, for both her body and mind. She would spend all her days in the water, whether it was the ocean or the pool. She was determined to recover and heal from her trauma and hopefully one day return to the professional swimming scene. But until then, she still suffers from nightmares and chronic pain. Her heart aches each and every day, but she knows she can't give up, and so she swims on.