Jillion Potter credits her wife Carol for helping her through life-changing trauma.
jillion potter
The American rugby star has overcome a broken neck and then cancer.
jillion potter
Potter (center) is known as one of the toughest tacklers on the women's sevens circuit.
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She is now hoping to be selected in the U.S. team for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
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After breaking her neck in 2010, Potter feared she would never play rugby again. "I was in a neck brace for a while," she says. "Part of my right side was pretty atrophied, it was one inch smaller, maybe a little bit more, which was interesting."
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Potter says the values rugby instilled in her also helped her fight against cancer, having been diagnosed in 2014.
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"Chemo was hard. You lose your physical identity with losing your hair, your eye lashes -- and as an athlete my muscles were getting smaller, I was losing weight, I couldn't train."
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"I was really in disbelief about how many people supported me around the world. I'm so grateful."
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"I've never been to the Olympics -- none of us have -- but we've got a great team behind us ... everyone is doing everything they can to prepare us for the Olympics."
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