Rebecca's mother, Peg Hutsell, nominated her daughter because "watching her overcome has always inspired me." Rebecca has faced several hardships, including a premature birth that she was not expected to survive, and severe childhood asthma. Complications from eye surgery left her legally blind in one eye.

Rebecca's segment of the relay to place in Sausalito. "At first I thought I didn't belong," she says, because she believed that other torchbearers had experienced more difficulties. But as she listened to them, she realized she had been through just as much as some of them. "Then I realized maybe I did belong there," says Rebecca.

Rebecca has worked two jobs while attending CSU, Chico and will begin her career as a teacher after graduating this spring.

Note: Article trimmed for content and edited for sake of privacy.

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