Before the accident, Lexi was living her best life as a state-champion soccer player. It's understandable then that following the tragedy, those around Lexi were asking her how she was going to cope given her new physical reality. "People asked me, 'What am I gonna do?'" Lexi recalled. "But I just figured it out after that."
The circumstances of her life-changing accident and the fact that she survived it at all, are an integral part of what drives Lexi today. "Knowing what I know now and from what the witnesses saw happen in the accident, I should not be alive," she revealed. "I think it's so easy to question things and to wonder why this happened to me, but the truth is that you can find purpose out of what you've gone through. And I think that's where my faith comes into play, in just trusting, without knowing the reason that something has happened."
This inner strength and profound optimism would become a core feature of Lexi's adult life. "There's a bigger purpose in everything that happens to us," she said.
Lexi was determined not to let her circumstances dictate her future so when the next boating season arrived, she headed straight for one of the places she loves the most: "I've grown up in the water, so as soon as the next summer rolled around, I jumped right back into the water."
"I know how much I love wakesurfing and how much I even love to just get on the water, and I want to share that with everyone, so I created an adaptive wakesurfing program called 'Brave the Wave'."
Beauty in the Little Things
Brave the Wave has introduced adaptive athletes to the joy and freedom of wakesurfing and watersports, but as Lexi pointed out, the most memorable moments often come from the smallest of experiences. "At the end of the day, it's not about wakesurfing, because there are so many other things around the wakesurfing experience that have changed people's life. These range from just getting in the water, or jumping off the back of the boat for the first time, to other little steps along the way that, as boaters, we don't think about, but for other people coming out and doing this for the first time, it's changing their lives. It's something that they never thought they would do."
Established in 2019, Brave the Wave's mission is to change lives one wave at a time, by bringing together the adaptive community through the sport of wakesurfing. By showing people how much their bodies are still capable of doing by teaching them to wakesurf, Brave the Wave - or BTW for short - is helping to transform the lives of people with physical disabilities.
Together On Board
According to her husband Daniel, Lexi's personality has played a key role in BTW's success thus far. "She ensures that everybody is on the boat together at the same time, so you get to talk to your neighbor or your friend who may have something similar going on in life, or maybe not, but at the same time, still growing that community and helping you come out of this with a new friendship."
Recognizing the role that those around her have played in her journey, Lexi affirmed her passion for sharing that same love and kindness with others. "The biggest thing for me has been to give back to people. That's what is the most fulfilling at the end of the day."
Give Yourself Grace
"I don't think there's a goal that is too big, that you can't achieve. It's just about figuring out how to achieve it," she continued. "The most important thing is taking those baby steps along the way towards that goal. You have to always give yourself grace because there are going to be hard days on which you wish that this wasn't your life or that you weren't going through this. But also there are such good days in that, and so grace has been my biggest thing. You have to remember to do that for yourself no matter what happens."