How one girl's adversity helped her win contest

Within months, Nikki Rhum went from being a gymnastic champion to someone with two broken feet and dysautonomia, a chronic disease affecting the automatic nervous system.

It was a lot for the 12-year-old to handle, so she turned to a book that her mom, Jodi, had recommended to her.

The story in "Way of the Peaceful Warrior" was similar to hers: The gymnast had shattered his leg and came to realize that life wasn't about winning in the sport.

Nikki said one quote in the book -- "Life is about the journey, not the final destination" -- really spoke to her.

She started a letter to the book's author Dan Millman with that quote to show him how much it meant to her.

The letter was part of a class project at Twin Groves Middle School in Buffalo Grove.

Nikki's teacher Tricia Kraemer sent in all the sixth-grade letters to the "Letters for Literature" contest, offered through the Center for the Book and the Library of Congress.

Of the 59,000 letters submitted, Nikki's entry was named the Illinois state winner in her grade category. She'll move on to the national contest.

In the letter, Nikki described her ordeal.

She had been competing in gymnastics practically her whole life. On June 15 last year, she lost her focus while on equipment and smashed her foot.

When she went to the emergency room, they said it was broken.

"(The doctor) thought I might need surgery," she wrote. "When he said those words to me, I froze. I was so disappointed and heartbroken."

The doctor X-rayed her other foot when she told him she had a previous injury, and he found that was broken too.

Soon after, she was diagnosed with chronic pain syndrome, and then just weeks ago, she was diagnosed with dysautonomia. The disease leaves her with headaches, dizziness and joint pain.

That has kept her from school, and she is now tutored at home. Nikki goes back to Twin Groves for a couple of hours every day and is trying to build up to the point where she can go back full time.

Her time as a gymnast is on hold, but after reading Millman's book, which is based on his own life, Nikki said she can see the bigger picture.

She said she used to concentrate on just winning, and now it's about the journey to get to that win.

"At the end it doesn't matter if I just have fun," she said.

Nikki said now she wants to be an author and inspire other people the way Millman inspired her.

Her mother said she's inspiring others anyway by the way she's handled all that came at her in the past year.

"She's in so much pain, but she's always smiling," Jodi said.

Nikki also decided to give money from her upcoming bat mitzvah to charities like the Dysautonomia Youth Network of America.

Friends at her school are also working to put together a fundraiser for the same organization.