In the short time that I've gotten to know Paula Hickey, I've found her to be a revelation. Listening to her bright, cheerful voice and her words of optimism and wisdom, it seems impossible that she is speaking to me from a hospice bed. And I found myself wondering...how is it that a woman facing death seems so much more present, more alive, than many of the healthy, able-bodied people I've met over the years? While the other kids her age were busy with school, playdates, and after-school sports, Paula was forced to spend her childhood in and out of hospitals. And after a traumatic brain aneurysm burst in her head at age nineteen, Paula's go-to joke became, I need that like I need a hole in my head!" Instead of feeling sorry for herself, or self-conscious in front of her classmates, Paula took the remarkable approach of looking at life as a comedy. She was nobody's victim; she was like the star of her own quirky sitcom. And that's what drew people toward her. Paula made it to college-and when everyone doubted that she would graduate after her brain hemorrhage at age nineteen, which caused her to lose her math skills and regressed her reading level to that of a fifth grader, Paula was resolute in her desire to not be a statistic. "I was determined to make something of my life, so I picked myself up and graduated college within three-and-a-half years... I've never given up. I've always kicked my own butt."