Mohawk athlete didn’t let stabbing kill dreams

N.A. Indigenous Games star athlete Horn-Miller injured by soldier in ‘90

Associated Press

DENVER - Waneek Horn-Miller, the most decorated athlete at the North American Indigenous Games and one of the world’s best water polo players, easily could have called it quits after she was stabbed in the chest during the 1990 Oka standoff in Canada.

The soldier’s bloody bayonet didn’t take her life, and she realized even at 14 that if she allowed her heart to fill with anger her spirit would be as broken as her body.

“It was awful. It was really awful. I got post-traumatic stress disorder from it. But you can’t give all your power over to that,” Horn-Miller said. “You can’t give them so much power that they take away your dreams.”