Pilot Jessica Cox, 32, from Arizona,
was born without arms, but she's managed to do very well for herself, thank
you.
She's a pilot who flies with — and does
everything with — her feet. She's in the Guinness record book as the first
woman to accomplish that feat.
She has a double-black belt in
taekwondo.
She gives motivational speeches and has
done so in 20 countries.
And she's written an inspirational book
called “Disarm Your Limits.”
Cox is at the Sun 'n Fun Fly-In this
week, her first visit.
Cox is modest about all she has
accomplished. She not just an outstanding pilot, say Lites Leenhouts, Sun 'n
Fun's president. “She's an incredible person.”
Cox grew up in a home where the phrase
“I can't” wasn't in the vocabulary of her parents, William and Inez Cox.
Jessica Cox said her mother came to America from the Philippines at age 22 and
had her own challenges.
Cox said she might have turned out
differently, but her mother always told her “you can do anything.”
And so she did.
Cox had to learn “to use my feet as my
hands, and my legs as my arms.” She wrote in class and ate in the cafeteria,
both with her feet.
Most of the kids were nice “except for
a few,” she said.
Cox said she always had a resolve to do
everything. She even played baseball by holding a bat between her shoulder and
chin. She said that as a child, she was sometimes angry with her “birth
condition.”
“But anger just made me want to do
things more.” Now she doesn't get angry. “I don't even think about it.”
Cox said she
doesn't know if she would have been the success she is had she been born with
arms.
“But I do
know it would be a completely different life,” she said.
She flies in
an Ercoupe, a 1940s-style plane that suits flying with her feet.
The
reactions Cox gets vary from shocked to curious to inspired.
To learn
more about Jessica Cox, visit www.jessicacox.com.
********************
They were born two decades
and 2,000 miles apart. Yet these two accomplished young ladies are like two
peas in a pod.
They both have shoulders, but no arms.
Both do everything with their feet.
Growing up, both have faced the same
obstacles, the same stares and the same need to dig deep to summon
self-confidence.
Angel Walker, 13, of Winter Haven is a
student at Westwood Middle School. She was featured in The Ledger a year ago.
Pilot Jessica Cox, 32, from Arizona was
featured in The Ledger on Wednesday. She's here for the Sun 'n Fun
International Fly-In & Expo this week at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport.
Angel has her share of self-confidence,
but it could use a boost. She doesn't like it when people stare at her,
particularly when she eats, because she uses her toes for fingers.
Angel, meet Jessica, the confidence
doctor.
Angel read the story about Cox on
Wednesday, which led to the two visiting for a couple of hours Thursday.
They immediately hit it off big-time.
Angel in the past had seen people, like
herself, without arms, but until Wednesday had never talked to one of them.
"I see myself as Angel when I was
her age," Cox said.
She told Angel to realize the reason
most people stare isn't born from malice, but from curiosity.
"Just be the best you can,"
Cox told Angel. "Have confidence and others will see you comfortable in
your own skin and they will be comfortable with you."
The two plan to meet again. At the end
of their time together, Angel said she learned "to be confident and to
believe in myself and not to care what other people think."
The two do
have plenty in common and that includes exhausting themselves physically.
Angel plays
soccer and Cox loves to dance. Angel plays the guitar; Cox the piano. And they
share the same favorite color: blue.
Angel and
some people from her family, including her mother, Tisa Bowers, met Cox at a
Mulberry pizzeria for a long lunch. After lunch, Cox showed Angel how to drive
with her feet.
It's going
to be a few years, but Angel wishes it were sooner.
"Mom,"
she said. "I want to drive."
Published: Tuesday, April 21, 2015
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