In 2017, Madi Taylor and her family had the opportunity to attend a San Diego Padres game with some Rady Children’s Hospital staff, including Carly Rickard, former DM at SDSU advisor. As fate would have it, this was one of those days that everything just went wrong. There wasn’t a wheelchair ready for Madi when she arrived at the stadium, the tickets didn’t work, they had to walk around Petco Park multiple times to find their seats. Madi was getting upset and Carly was mortified. She apologized to Georgine and Scott, Madi’s parents, profusely and explained that this was absolutely not the experience she had planned for them and their daughter. Georgine then said 3 words to Carly that she’ll never forget.

 

“It’s a one.”

 

Sensing that Carly was confused, Georgine elaborated further. She explained that every day for the past four years, doctors had come into Madi’s hospital room and asked her to rate her pain on a scale of 1-10. For them, all the inconveniences and stress of the Padres game were just a one. 

 

Madi’s story puts into perspective all the trivial, day-to-day inconveniences that we consider obstacles in our lives. On the pain scale of life, most things are just a one, especially in comparison to what kids like Madi must go through every day in order to fight for their lives.