Kimie Bessho has been through more than most can imagine. Nevertheless, she persists in pursuing her passions. Bessho was born outside Hiroshima, Japan, just a few years after the city was destroyed by a nuclear bomb. Bessho enjoyed skiing, track and volleyball as a youngster. Even going to school was athletic, her legs growing stronger with each journey from her mountain home. At 38, she lost her husband to cancer. Two years later, she received the same diagnosis. The surgery to remove the tumor left her paralyzed, and with a grim prognosis of only three years to live. "At the time I wanted to end my life," recalls Bessho. "I couldn't do anything myself." Luckily, she found something she could do herself. Reading about the Paralympics piqued her youthful sporting spirit. At 45, she took up para table tennis. 11 years later, she made her Paralympic debut in Athens 2004. Wearing her trademark butterfly clips in her hair, "The Butterfly Lady" has been a staple of the games ever since. While para table tennis has given Bessho lew life, bad fortune continues to stalk her. In 2018, she was injured in not one but two devastating car accidents. While the first was potentially career-ending, damaging her hands and arms, the second could have been life-ending. After being hit by a truck, Bessho spent seven months in a hospital. Now 73, Bessho is working on another comeback. She is currently listed 8th in the women's class 5 world para table tennis rankings. Already a veteran of four Paralympics, Bessho is not about to rest on her laurels, even in these dangerous times. Despite repeated efforts, she still languishes among the 99% of Japan's citizens who have yet to be fully vaccinated. Paralympic qualifications are just around the corner, running from June 3rd to 5th in Lasko, Slovenia. For Bessho, the prospect of traveling internationally amid the pandemic without the protection of vaccination is frightening but ultimately worth the risk. "I don't want to die of Covid," says. "If I die, I want to die in a competition after a winning smash. I won't die a boring death, but I will make a big smash. My friends say they'll decorate my coffin with many ping pong balls." No doubt, with a butterfly motif.

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