I'm blessed to be a part of an amazing volunteer program at West Georgia. We reach out to "troubled" youth and just give them a place to self-reflect and figure out exactly who they want to be. Each week, we have a different activity for the youth, which often has an even more profound effect on us college students.

This past Monday, our program director got Ms. Aimee Copeland to come speak to us. I've sat in on a lot of speakers, some with sob stories, some with rough backgrounds, some with just good personalities. Upon meeting Aimee, she was undeniably beautiful and had an energy you couldn't ignore. She sat with us as we had a conversation like we would any other night then used that when telling her story.

Aimee was exploring with a friend when they found a backyard zip line. The two thought it would be fun to test it out and at first, it was a blast.

The second time across, Aimee heard a snap...then a thud. The first sound was the line breaking, the second was her body landing on jagged rocks she hadn't noticed before.

The fall left her with a gash so deep and large in her leg that it required 22 staples to close. But this was just the beginning of Aimee's medical journey. She went 72 hours without knowing she had a flesh-eating bacteria in the gash.

By the time the bacteria has discovered, it was too late. Her leg had rotted completely and had to be removed at the hip, as well as a large piece of flesh in her torso, this led to a whole mess of issues resulting in Aimee soon losing both her hands and her right foot.

But this still didn't stop Aimee, she learned to walk with prosthetics, unaided. She can put her hair in a ponytail, she lives entirely alone and takes care of herself. She cooks, she drives. She lives arguably a more productive life than people who have all their limbs.

She's never let this stop her. Every time she was told she couldn't, she worked, and she tried and she did. Her favorite part being able to snap a picture and send it to the ones who told her she couldn't.

When Aimee got to this part in her story, she said something that really stuck with me: "you may have seen situations like this before, but you've never seen me before." It is so often we get labeled by our race, economic standing, sexuality, gender or even age.

People group us into categories with others who fit our demographic but are not us. Your situation is so unique, there has never been another you and there never will be. You're the only one who can own exactly who you are.

Aimee preached hard work and dedication in such an amazing, moving way. She gives life a whole new perspective and has refreshed my perspective on who I am today and who I want to be tomorrow.

To learn more about Aimee's story, read her blogs, hear about events and donate to her cause, you can head on over to http://aimeecopelandfoundation.org/