ATLANTA — The Olympics are an exciting time for fans for all ages, and that includes the young patients watching the action at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
These patients' stories of perseverance and strength parallel the athletes on the world stage, and 11Alive caught up with one fan who has followed Georgia's own Elana Meyers Taylor along the way.
"The Zone at Scottish Rite had an Olympics, and I won one of the prizes," Hannah Evans said, remembering the 2014 games. "That's why I have one of the silver medals on. So we took this picture. It says 'Congrats Elana. We think you're great!'"
In 2014, Hannah was only 4 years old. Born with a birth defect called gastroschisis, where her intestines were found outside of her body, she spent the first 10 months of her life in a Tennessee NICU and was on the bowel and liver transplant list at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Her family moved to Atlanta in 2013 to utilize the treatment at Scottish Rite, where she ultimately had surgery that allowed her to be taken off the transplant list.
That year, patients like Hannah watched in Atlanta as thousands of miles away at the Sochi Winter Olympics, Elana Meyers Taylor took home silver in bobsled with Lauryn Williams.
After her win, Taylor visited Children's, posing with patients with a bobsled. It's a day that Hannah well remembers.
"I got to wear her medal," Hannah said. "It was so cool. She was a real nice lady."
Now age 12, Hannah and her team decided to recreate the 2014 moment, as Elana gets ready to compete in her fourth Olympic Games in Beijing.
"We found out Elana was going for a 4th time, and she's a wife and she's a mother now. So we went down to the art room and took a bunch of pictures," Hannah said. "Hopefully, she wins again!"
Like an Olympian showing off a new medal, Hannah shows off her beads of courage. From one little champion to another, Hannah shared a little advice.
"Stay calm. You got this. Go ahead and compete. It's alright if you lose. Do your best, and good luck," she said.