Truth Daniels Wins Slam Dunk Attorney Survivors Speak Scholarship

Slam Dunk Attorney’s Survivor Speak Scholarship: Catastrophic Injuries That Change Lives promises $2,500 in financial aid to a student whose life has been radically changed by a personal or familial catastrophic injury. Slam Dunk Attorney aims to help students facing unfair challenges keep financial burdens from standing in the way of their goals.

This year, the Survivor Speak Scholarship: Catastrophic Injuries That Change Lives award goes to Truth Daniels, a student at Clark Atlanta University.

Daniels’ scholarship essay goes into stark detail about the physical and psychological impact of a severe football injury–one that he says transformed his life and goals for the future.

Injured After Finding His Footing

College football is a dangerous sport that can leave players with shockingly bad injuries. Truth Daniels suffered one such injury shortly after getting into organized competition: a combination of a knee and pelvic injury took him out of the game he loved and into the hospital, where he had to undergo surgery to facilitate his recovery.

Football had always been part of Daniels’ life, but his foray into college football had been delayed, first by personal circumstances and then by the COVID-19 pandemic. His injuries promised to make a return to the game he’d so recently joined all but impossible.

The Realities of Catastrophic Injuries and Depression

Catastrophic injuries like Daniels’ do more than limit a person’s physical mobility. These injuries force victims to restructure how to live their lives, and in many cases, they limit what a person can do for themselves on a daily basis. Those new limitations are difficult to live with, especially when they compromise a person’s passions and hobbies.

Daniels’ experience with his injuries is a perfect case study for the psychological effects catastrophic injuries can have on a victim. Daniels reports feeling as though his life had lost all meaning:

“I felt empty. The pain, the confusion, and the sense of being alone consumed me. I couldn’t sleep at night. I had no idea how I was going to recover, emotionally or physically. For someone who had been through their fair share of challenges, this injury felt like the breaking point.”

Finding the Silver Lining

Daniels’ depression nearly drove him to drop out of school. However, he came across a quote that he says moved him: “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” While the quote has been attributed to a number of great thinkers, it actually stems from Oliver Goldsmith’s The Citizen of the World.

“The quote hit me hard,” Daniels says, “and for the first time in a long while, I felt something stir inside me—a small but powerful spark of hope.” He decided to finish his semester with strong grades, fighting through lifelong limitations brought about by his dyslexia. He also found a new purpose in the field of occupational therapy.

The physical therapists who helped Daniels recover from his injuries inspired him to work with disabled children and elderly patients who struggled with limitations forced onto them by circumstances and accidents.

Daniels’ new interest in the field drove him not only to regain his lost vigor but to transfer schools, allowing him to get back on track academically.

Working Toward a Better Future

A career in occupational therapy requires a bachelor’s and a master’s degree. While Daniels had already planned to continue his education, he now had a new goal in mind. “I was not just going through the motions,” he says, “I had found something that truly excited me.”

While Daniels’ injuries were devastating, he now reports seeing them as a catalyst for change in his life. He’s driven, now more than ever, to keep a positive mindset and commit to doing the right thing–and to being the first in his family to graduate from college. 

What to Expect from Truth Daniels

Truth Daniels is currently pursuing a biology degree at Clark Atlanta University. He hopes that his focus on human anatomy, physiology, and neurobiology will make it easier for him to pursue a master’s degree in occupational therapy after graduation.

About Slam Dunk Attorney’s Survivors Speak Scholarship

Slam Dunk Attorney offers its Survivors Speak Scholarship: Catastrophic Injuries That Change Lives in hopes that the firm’s financial support can help a student fighting to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. The team invites students to discuss the lengths they’ve gone to in their effort to continue pursuing their goals.

The scholarship promises its winning student $2,500 to dedicate toward their continued studies. The firm accepts applications from students who’ve personally suffered catastrophic injuries, have immediate family members struggling with a catastrophic injury, or who have lost loved ones to deadly accidents.

Students interested in applying for the Survivors Speak Scholarship: Catastrophic Injuries That Change Lives can keep an eye on the Slam Dunk Attorney website for news about upcoming application dates, qualifying criteria, and essay guidelines.

Slam Dunk Attorney Celebrates Truth Daniels

Catastrophic injuries are uniquely unfair because they have the capacity to rip a person’s dreams away. Daniels is one of many young people who suffer from these types of injuries early in life and have to overcome a litany of new obstacles as a result. However, Daniels provides a perfect example of how to persevere: by leaning on one’s community and learning new lessons.

Slam Dunk Attorney is delighted to offer Daniels $2,500 to dedicate toward his continued education. The team hopes he has the opportunity to pursue his master’s degree and offer people who’ve suffered injuries like his the support they need to make futures for themselves.