IT HAD started off as a good day. After watching her brother’s football game, Diamond agreed to give a friend of a friend a ride, in exchange for gas money. But when she didn’t recognise the neighbourhood she was in, Diamond started to get concerned. She parked up and he got out to meet two men, asking Diamond to wait. When he got back in the car and told Diamond to drive off quickly, she knew things weren’t ok. But before she could even drive away, Diamond and her passenger were shot at by an AK47 and AR15. A total of 79 bullet holes were found in her car and nine bullets hit Diamond: three in the chest, two in the back, one in the left arm, one in the right leg and one in each kneecap. A month into her recovery in the hospital, Diamond woke up to learn that she was a paraplegic. For Diamond, the question was less if she would be able to walk and more if she would be able to dance again. Having danced and performed since she was just three years old, Diamond was relieved to discover she could still dance in her wheelchair and before the pandemic was performing with dancers both in and out of wheelchairs. Diamond said: “I did not ever think in a million years that I would be able to dance again. Being able to perform again is an indescribable [sic] feeling.” When lockdown hit, Diamond took to TikTok, recording routines that she shared online. But now is the first time she is getting to perform in real life again for over two years. She said: “I miss performing live. I really miss the connection with the audience and the other performers. Being next to other performers it’s really a rush. It’s not the same performing at home.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CEjrfL5J42SBhsCzZ1vVLucJ_1c3Z0plWPibHA0/
