Listen to Lizzie Bellinger, PT, DPT, read this Defining Moment article on APTA's podcast.

Before my world was changed forever, I was on a predictable career path. The daughter of an engineer and a social worker, raised by a stepmother with a doctorate in political science, I never questioned that I was going to college. I graduated from undergrad and PT school with honors. At my first job, I completed an orthopedic residency and got my board certification in orthopaedic physical therapy. As soon as they would let me, I started teaching in the DPT program at my alma mater.