Paula Umana
Episode 177
20 JUNE 2022
She is a former professional tennis player who is now a speaker, an author, and the tennis coach at Holy Spirit Prep in Atlanta, Georgia, with an amazing story of a nervous system disorder that left her quadriplegic. She had been the Number 1 tennis player in her country of origin, Costa Rica, including having been Central American Champion for nine years and representing her country at the Central American Games. She has written a book called “40 Gifts of Hope: Encouragement in Times of Sickness and Suffering.”
Notable guest quotes:
“Costa Rica is a small country… I was born in a family of seven children, and I am the youngest. And the Catholic traditions in… Costa Rica are really strong.”
“… family of seven kids and for my dad it was very difficult to be able to afford a tennis career for somebody, but, God provides, and things started to get better. At the time I was 17 I took a very serious decision in my life that was to become a professional tennis player and dedicate all the time to practice, maybe eight or nine hours a day of tennis.”
“He was the one who asked me the question, ‘Would you like to take tennis serious and play everyday and to do homeschooling and practice,’ and I was like, ‘Yes, but I need to be able to afford all these expenses for my dream.’ So, I remember, I started praying for that.”
“I think that was the beginning of, for me to be very close to God. I was just praying for finding a way to do it. And I remember I found some Catholic friends and also, I started to call some companies in my country and I was able to get good sponsors and that’s how I was able to come to the United States.”
“I moved to Miami, Key Biscayne, and… I remember the Catholic church there… St. Agnes… I remember I used to practice and then go to the house where I used to live… and have dinner and then after that I just used to go to the church and sit down outside of the church.”
“After (my son) was born, my body just started to get all paralyzed in a horrible way until I was just a person in a bed not being able to move.”
“In Costa Rica we have a special day for the Virgin Mary and it’s a day called the Virgin of the Angels, where everybody goes in pilgrimage and walks through the country to pray and to offer and to give thanks. So, my aunt decided for everybody to go for me and pray. And that was on August 2nd of 2015. Well, on August 4th of 2015, that was the first time I was able to sit down.”
“On February 11th of 2016, that was the day of the Virgin of Lourdes, my mother-in-law called me, and she said, ‘I’m praying for you.’ I was in a wheelchair on my front porch, and… that was the first time I was able to stand up.”
“The biggest miracle for me was… my daughter, Marie, went on a mission trip to the Virgin of Lourdes and all the doctors told me, ‘You’re not going to be able to walk anymore,’ … and when my daughter was in the Virgin of Lourdes praying for me, a lady stopped me in the supermarket and she said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, but, I didn’t walk for twelve years. And I discovered this device on my legs.’ And it’s a man in Seattle that is doing them. It was not a neuromuscular center… I met this lady in the supermarket right when my daughter is in front in Lourdes praying for me and my situation.”
“It is so beautiful how our Blessed Mother is always available for us, to help us. Like the same way that women, as moms, we’re available for our kids and sometimes our kids are teenagers and they don’t talk to us and they don’t look at us, but we’re always there waiting for them to come to us and… to help in any way. So, I think we have to go to Her because she’s amazing… I love Her so much for everything that has happened in my life.”
“I learned that the best way to win was offering my suffering.”
Related links:
Paula’s book “40 Gifts of Hope: Encouragement in Times of Sickness and Suffering”
