The edges of what her body can do.

The edges of where she can go.

The edges of what someone with her diagnosis should reasonably expect from life.

Rachel has spent just as much time proving those edges wrong.

When doctors told her sports weren't realistic, she found adaptive CrossFit. When isolation threatened to shrink her world, she found para fencing and a community that felt like family. When mobility challenges made public transportation, competitions, and everyday adventures harder to reach, she started searching for a solution.

Maybe that's why fencing feels so fitting.

After all, life on the edge is something Rachel knows a thing or two about.

Armed with a foil and a quick sense of humor, Rachel trains up to four days a week as a para fencer. She jokes that "stabbing people" is a great stress reliever, but the sport has given her something much more meaningful than that. 

It’s given her confidence, purpose, and a community of fellow adaptive athletes who understand what it means to keep moving forward when your body keeps presenting new challenges.

And Rachel has faced more than most.

Born with Multiple Epiphyseal Dysplasia (MED), a rare congenital condition that affects her joints, balance, coordination, and depth perception, Rachel grew up navigating a world that wasn't built for bodies like hers. 

Later came additional diagnoses, including a rare autoimmune disorder that left her in and out of hospitals throughout childhood and, more recently, PTEN Hamartoma Tumor Syndrome, which affects multiple systems throughout her body.

Growing up, Rachel's parents didn't know whether she would live past the age of five. Between her rare autoimmune condition and disability, much of her childhood was spent moving between hospitals, specialists, procedures, and appointments.

"My whole life as a child was hospitals," Rachel said. "I never got to be a 'normal kid.'"

Yet her parents refused to let medical charts define her world.

There were music lessons, school days, and opportunities to explore life beyond doctor's offices. Rachel learned seven instruments over the years, eventually falling in love with the cello.

"Having a musical instrument gives you a voice," she said.

But even as she found her voice through music, Rachel was still searching for a place where she felt fully understood.

She found it in adaptive sports.

Today, whether she's training in CrossFit, competing on the fencing strip, or cheering on friends from across the adaptive athlete community, Rachel is part of something bigger than herself. 

That sense of community has been especially important as her mobility challenges have increased. Frequent falls, chronic pain, and worsening balance issues have made getting around more difficult. While San Francisco offers excellent public transportation, Rachel's current wheelchair simply wasn't built for the active life she wants to live.

Thanks to the generosity of Chive Nation, Chive Charities is proud to provide a $5,000 grant to fully fund Rachel's foldable TiLite manual wheelchair—a piece of equipment that will help her maintain the independence she has fought so hard to build.

As Rachel put it, "You can only see so much of the world from the back of an Uber."

The chair will make it easier to navigate public transportation, travel to competitions, connect with fellow adaptive athletes, and continue exploring new opportunities throughout Northern California. More than that, it will help ensure that mobility challenges don't determine the size of Rachel's world.

Because that's the thing about Rachel. Every time life has tried to draw a line around what she can do, she's found a way beyond it.

She found it through music. She found it through sports. She found it through community. And now she'll continue finding it through the freedom to move through the world on her own terms.

At Chive Charities, we believe everyone deserves the chance to pursue the things that bring them joy, purpose, and connection. Sometimes that means funding a wheelchair. Sometimes it means opening a door that insurance left closed.

For Rachel, it means the ability to keep living life on the edge—not the edge of limitation, but the edge of possibility.

And if her story reminds us of anything, it's this:

Life isn't about accepting where the edges are. It's about discovering just how far beyond them you can go. DONATE HERE.