Bella Picard suffered a broken neck and temporarily paralysis on the right side of her body from a softball collision

Undaunted by grim prognosis, college softball star vows to return to the field
An ever-driven college softball star was unwilling to accept her prognosis.

On April 18th 2015, two former Division 1 college softball players were involved in a collision on the base paths during an A10 conference matchup. The collision between the two players resulted in a life changing injury for Bella Picard and a life changing perspective for Allie Bradian.

Bella Picard broke her neck and was temporarily paralyzed on the right side of her body. Her hashtag became #BRINGBACKTHERIGHTSIDE in hopes of making a full recovery in gaining back function in her right side. Every post from Bella on Instagram and Facebook kept her friends and family updated on her progress and the many setbacks she was faced with during her long road to recovery. Bella Picard's determination and relentless spirit has now inspired the nation to view life from a completely different perspective, the perspective of an All-American athlete with a bright future who's entire identity was stripped away from her in seconds. Today, Bella can walk and use her right arm. Her injury has left her with right sided drop foot, neurologic toning in her right wrist, fingers, and both biceps, along with a neurogenic bladder and Autonomic Dysreflexia. She continues to fight for a full recovery today.

Bella's injury took away what she thought she was born to do; become the greatest athlete she could possibly be. Over 3 years of fighting, Bella has came up with something even bigger than just her recovery,  the #BRINGBACKTHERIGHTSIDE DIARY is an inspirational video series featuring the several amazing human beings who she has met since her life changing injury. The people who she will be featuring in each chapter are individuals who have positively influenced her recovery and those who significantly impacted and helped her get through some of the darkest moments in her recovery.

This is CHAPTER 1 of the #BRINGBACKTHERIGHTSIDE DIARY series, starting with the player who she collided with. CHAPTER 1 captures the very first open discussion between the two former softball players about what happened that day, how both players healed from the tragedy, how their lives changed and how they individually chose to rise above the traumatic incident to seek a greater purpose: to help others who need healing, and to inspire athletes around the world to play for a bigger purpose, to play for those who can't and to play with gratitude and respect for their game.

Bella Picard and Allie Bradian have now developed an unlikely friendship 3 years after the collision on the base paths. Please watch what these two strong women have to say about their experience and how they dealt with pain, heartache, guilt, sadness, and feeling a loss of identity after the game of softball became a sore subject from the result of the collision in April of 2015.