Unbroken
At the 2024 Speaker Slam® Grand Slam, the Inspirational Speaking Finals held at CBC Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, Val Vee delivered “Unbroken” and was named #3 Inspirational Speaker of the Year.
Transcript
we spent the night huddled in our hotel room kept awake by the gunshots ringing through the night the next morning exhausted we escorted across the border into nalis Mexico by armed guards carrying machine guns pass the long lineups of people being deported cars honking people screaming it was chaos we finally pull up to this small medical building and get rushed inside past a guy washing blood off the side walk from last night's shooting inside my husband's blood gets drawn to prepare for my injections it feels surreal like the movie sakario only this isn't fiction this is our reality how the hell did we end up
here one of our first States was at the Air Canada Center 21 years ago he had surprised me with Toronto Maple Eve tickets I was a huge fan I wore black high heeled boots feeling all sexy and confident and then it happened smack there I was sprawled out on the steps all eyes on me I was so embarrassed and there he was so sweet reaching for me to help me up while apologizing to me for rushing in that moment the embarrassment faded and I knew I knew that this man was going to be my husband he didn't know it yet but I did did and
one year later we celebrated Our Big Fat Greek Wedding as a traditional Greek and Macedonian couple we dreamed about having a family doing family things we even had our kids names picked out it was going to be amazing until it wasn't it took over five years of me peeing on more sticks than I can count until one morning at 4:00 a.m. I finally saw the line that said yes I was pregnant we were so happy our dreams were coming true that was until the doctor told me that my numbers were low and that it might not be viable despite that I was out buying baby
clothes thinking of mom life and desperately trying to Manifest this pregnancy one week later we received the news that we had lost our baby this Devastation was the beginning of a 10 yearl long journey that included five very expensive and painful IVF treatments four miscarriages three dnc's and one failed adoption nothing had worked my immune system kept attacking the embryo so out of desperation we agreed to do a DNA transferring procedure in Mexico that was illegal in most of the world it seemed like a last ditch effort but I wanted this so badly I wanted to be a mom more than anything anything this has
to work God it has to and then I was pregnant but as the weeks went on the heartbeat grew weaker until one day it was just gone the devastation was unbearable I couldn't hear anything as they explained it I ran into the stairwell and uncontrollably sobbing to my husband I'm sorry I can't give you a baby you can leave if you want and find somebody who can he looked at me with so much love and said I'm not going anywhere you're my life that's when I realized no matter how many times we tried no matter how much we lost my husband would always love me
throughout this process people would say you're so strong you're so brave trying losing and trying again is brave setting yourself up for agonizing disappointment is brave hell going into the Mexican cartel is brave we often think bravery is in the action in the fighting in the struggle but I'm here to tell you that the bravest thing that I've ever done wasn't enduring those treatments or facing gunmen in Mexico the bravest thing I've ever done was standing in front of a mirror and accepting myself as I am childless flawed and yet whole it's realizing that I am enough not for what I can do but for
who I am so who am I if I'm not the mother I thought I'd be I am a woman I am a wife and I am enough and that my friends is the bravest truth of all thank you one speech can change your life Unleash Your power embrace the stri Inspire the world let your story flow as speak SL let your spirit
Transcript generated from the recording and shown as captured, without added punctuation. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.
