The thrill of walking into the arena, the crowd, the sounds, the sights, the time anxiously and excitedly waiting for your very first match. You’ve only been training for a few months but from the amazing new friendships that have turned into family, you have built the confidence to walk out there and compete. Your friends and teammates are there ready to cheer you on to personal victory.

Martial arts allow us to empower each other, achieve goals and learn respect, focus and determination. We help each other to keep going despite hardships and setbacks. My name is Renee and I belong to an AMAZING gym, The Edge Martial Arts & Tumbling. I myself have experienced so many reasons why this gym, the members that I call family and Gracie JIU-JITSU have helped in the face of adversity. I can’t imagine my life without these amazing humans. From fighting cancer, countless surgeries, deaths and losses, our family has backed each other up, supported and loved through it all.

I have a plea to help one such family member, Mia. Mia is a bright, hardworking 20yr old here in Lynchburg, VA. She recently joined our family and has been an absolute pleasure. I am honored to have the opportunity to help coach her and train with her.

Mia, through the encouragement of her gym family, excitedly signed up for her very first Jiu-jitsu tournament. She was worried about being so new to the sport. The martial arts community is full of honor, respect and love. We encouraged her to compete knowing she had prepared well and trained hard. She has shown amazing attention to detail and has learned so much in the past several months. Mia competed in the novice division - under 6 months experience.

It is with an extremely heavy heart that I am reporting that Mia was badly hurt by a far more experienced competitor. The honor and respect in martial arts is very high, but unfortunately, as we are human, not perfect. Mia was competing in the novice division, under 6 months experience. With well over a decade more experience, being a 3rd degree black belt in Judo and being an international level competitor representing the US in world championship competition, yet still choosing to compete as a novice in BJJ, the other competitor performed an extremely technical move that caused Mia to fracture the T6 and T7 of her back. We are shocked and saddened that somehow this has happened.

Although, as competitors, we are aware injuries can happen, we are still processing how and why a competitor of such rank would not only choose to compete in a novice division but also be allowed to.

Mia is THE most selfless human and always looking to help others no matter her circumstances. Her generosity towards others and strong Christian values makes her one of the best people to have as a friend, training partner and family member.

Mia is an amazingly hard worker and was saving up to move out on her own. Mia has the support of her Father and Mother and two brothers. However, with many medical bills piling up and an extremely long road of recovery in front of her, those dreams are pushed off.

Mia will now face not only large medical bills but a large loss of income as she is currently relying on others for nearly everything.

With the events of the tournament in Lynchburg, VA this past weekend (April 22nd), the Jiu-Jitsu community is shaken. If you are able, please consider donating to help Mia. Please share her story and maybe offer a prayer.