Laquinta Haynes

I attribute my success to keeping faith and believing in myself. Cancer taught me a lot of things, and one of the things cancer taught me is that you live today and don't think about tomorrow. Tomorrow comes, it comes, right? But if tomorrow don't come, then why were you thinking about a day that's not today? After I lost my leg, all the money went away, and I had to figure out if I loved myself, because I never loved me before. I was pouring from an empty cup, putting my cup in other people's cups just to make them feel like they got something. Now I don't do that anymore. Everything about my life, I live it on a day-to-day basis. When I got divorced and my ex took everything, I had nothing, and I'm an amputee with nothing. I was sitting in a hotel room trying to figure out my life, and I got a phone call from the insurance company with a $2,000 check when I needed $1,500 to move into an apartment. All of this stuff continuously happens to me and happens for me, without me knowing it's coming, or with me at the end of my ropes. I had to keep faith, because I lost faith a long time ago. This version of me and that version of me are two completely different people.

The advice I would give is believe in yourself first. I think sometimes we forget that behind all of that strong, and all of that, it takes a lot, right? But when we stop believing in who we are, and we kind of give in to what the naysayers might say, I feel like that's what affects business more than anything. It's not that people are telling us no, because we're sitting on no before we get started. So accept no would be another thing I would tell someone. Accept the no's, because every time you hear no, it's gonna give you even more of that drive to want to go get that yes. And when you hear that first yes, it's like somebody just gave you a million dollars, and all they said was yes. Timing is everything. Belief and timing. So you keep faith, faith will take you a long way. I would also tell my younger self to not let other people dictate who you are and who you're gonna become. So many times, I feel like I've let other people dictate or try and remove who I'm becoming. Whatever God has for you is gonna be for you.

One of the biggest challenges is that there's so many people that hold this adaptive world really close, because they don't want everybody in it. It's because if it's only me, then I get everything. I can win every award. But I don't think like that. I get an award every time I see one of my kids get an award. I've been able to offer opportunities to so many little kids, and it's so fulfilling to me when three or four years will pass and I'll get a photo from a parent saying their baby just won something. I didn't get that kid there, but I gave them the direction. I gave them the options. That's so much more than anything they're gonna get if I don't tell them. My biggest goal for moving forward is to make it to where everybody has access to adaptive sports or to recreational outdoors.

The most important values to me are living in the present, self-love, and giving back to others. Cancer taught me that you live today and don't think about tomorrow. Tomorrow comes, it comes, but if tomorrow don't come, then why were you thinking about a day that's not today? Before I lost my leg, I loved money and I loved doing for other people. After I lost my leg, I had to figure out if I loved myself, because I never loved me. I was pouring from an empty cup. Now I love me, and my job is my love. My hobbies are my work. It never feels like I'm working. I feel like I get to live every day. I also value reaching other people and reaching other individuals who don't think that they can be influential because of what they go through in life. When I'm offering opportunities to kids, it's so fulfilling to me because I gave them the direction and the options. I celebrate cancer because it saved my life and done so many things for me now. Cancer is not a sad thing, it's a good thing.