Every Super Bowl, there is one commercial that seems to rise above the rest, and more often than not it's a funny one. Talking frogs, celebrity cameos, you know the drill.
This year, however, Toyota threw us all for a loop with their commercial "Jessica Long's Story". If you didn't know, Jessica Long is the Tom Brady of swimming - earning gold 13 times as a Paralympic athlete.
Her story, told in the commercial, is a complicated one. She was born in Russia to a young, unwed couple who put her up for adoption. An American couple adopted her at 13 months. Only 5 months later, due to a condition she had, her lower legs had to be amputated.
Jessica - born Tatiana Olegovna Kirillova - didn't let that stop her - and nor did the condition stop her prospective adopted parents from adopting her. She took to her grandparents' pool like a fish to water, and soon joined a competitive team. Two years later? She won three medals in the Paralympic games at age 12!
She went on to collect a whole ton of hardware (seriously, check out her Wikipedia, it's intense!) and smashed every conceivable pre-existing notion some may have of athletes with a disability.
I, admittedly, hadn't heard about her prior to the commercial... but I am glad I know her now. Incredible story, and incredible adoptive parents that never gave up on their girl.