Cheyenne Cousineau is one of the best in the country when it comes to the sport of diving. It has earned her a chance to compete for a spot on the Olympic Team.
"She has always been focused on her goals," her mother Diane Cousineau says.
Her swim coach at Bedford High School says, "When she was here diving our diving program picked up tremendously."
But just over a year ago it wasn't about competing at the Olympics, it was about fighting for her life.
"To come back and do what she did, it was emotional," her dad Roland Cousineau says.
On July 29th, 2010, the Ohio State Buckeye was sitting in her Columbus apartment when she felt pain behind her ear.
"She was on the phone going no, no, ill be okay," says her mom. "The whole family scrambled to get 911 calls out and to see how we could get an ambulance to her as she was all alone."
Cheyenne suffered a nickle-sized blood clot behind her ear that led to a stroke and then to a seizure.
Her sister Sierra was roommates with Cheyenne at the time. She received a call from her brother and instantly returned home.
"I ran around the corner of the apartment, she was having a seizure," Sierra says. "I didn't know what was going on with her, and so when I got in the ambulance I was just prayed."
Once an aspiring doctor and Olympian, The Ohio State University star realized her biggest challenges were no longer in the classroom or in the pool.
"Everyday I am not living for myself, I'm living for God, and I can use my sport to glorify Him, and that's a blessing," Cheyenne commented.
Then six months later, her prayers were answered, and she was back in the pool.
Just a year after that, she won the Big Ten Championships in the 10m platform dive.
I spoke with her on the phone from her training site in Seattle.
"My coach he is fantastic and was just able to spend so much time with me, which was amazing, so it was very cool to see everything fall into place at big tens," Cheyenne shared.
Just shy of two years after her near death experience, Cheyenne has an Opportunity of a lifetime, as she will be diving in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials.
"I am very proud of her and its just really neat to see where god has taken her through her struggles," her sister Sierra said.
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