Middle schooler paralyzed by stray bullet gives inspiring graduation speech
When Tayloni Mazyck was 11 years old, she was hit with a stray bullet in the neck during a gang shooting while she was waiting for her aunt outside an apartment.
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The young woman was left emotionally traumatized and in a wheelchair as a result.
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“She used to like to stay in the house, she was scared to go out,” Mazyck’s mother said in an interview with the New York Daily News.
Three years later, Mazyck has graduated from New Design Middle School in Manhattan with honors, and she was invited to speak at the graduation ceremony.
The touching speech has since gone viral as Mazyck shared her amazing message of inspiration with the graduating class.
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“Believe that you can succeed, and you will,” she said in the speech, which was shared by Pix 11. “Understand that having problems is not an excuse to give up – just an opportunity to fight harder and win.”
“I won today,” she continued. “Today, I am a winner. My mishap does not define me. It does not limit me. It just helps the fighter in me stay alive.”
“This student is on her way to success,” said school counselor Tara Brown as she introduced Mazyck during the ceremony. “A bullet from a gun could not stop her, therefore I’m very confident that the sky is the limit.”
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