Do you may remember reading about Heather Williams back in 2001? She is the young entertainer who was working with Universal Studios in Japan when she was hit by a taxicab while riding her bike.

She spent the next two months in a comma followed by three months working hard to begin her recovery at G.S. Strong in Vancouver.

Many people expected Heather to die as a result of the accident, but she didn't, and I suspect it was her amazing attitude that brought her back to life.

"My life changed in an instant," she told me. "I had the perfect life. I was this talented entertainer making great money doing exactly what I loved and then it was all taken away just like that."

Heather suffered a brain injury that robbed her of her balance and her voice, the two main tools she needed to sing, dance and act. It has also affected her eyesight, which adds to her balance challenges.

But the same positive attitude that brought her out of her comma is fuelling her recovery.

"OK, this is a challenge," she stated, "a really big challenge but I have always done things well so I'm going to do this well. I'm going to get better well."

Since coming home last December, in spite of her voice and balance problems, Heather has been taking singing and ballet lessons as well as practicing palates.

All of her doctors have encouraged her to take anti depressants but she refuses.

"I go to the gym, I do ballet and palates and I'm happy," she enthused. "I don't need anti depressants."

When Christine McMahon, Heather's voice teacher, nominated her as a Neighbourhood Hero, she wrote, "Heather is a blessing and an inspiration to everyone she meets. I've been honoured to work with her and support her on her journey to recovery. Heather radiates light and vitality and she never gives up. She knows that God has a larger purpose for her life."

"God gave me the gift of being an entertainer," Heather told me, "and I did that well so I thought that was my purpose. But the accident taught me it's more than that ... it's way more than that. I believe I'm here to inspire people however I do it writing, singing, acting or dancing ... however."

But the journey isn't always easy. As we talked in more detail about the accident and what it cost her, she shed a few brief tears but then quickly bounced back.

"I'm still coming to grips with all this," she smiled through misty eyes, "but I also see that I can't change it and there are good things about it.

"I'm kinda getting it now," she continued. "I always was very spiritual before and now I'm getting it even more. Everyone says live in the moment so you have to do what you're passionate about and go full hog every minute. Don't mark anything. Don't mark life. Go one hundred percent all of the time."

"Mark" in dancing means that you do something in a half-hearted manner.

I asked Heather for her advice to those of us who, from time to time, feel overwhelmed by life.

"Stop and take a beat," was her quick reply. "Take a deep breath and ask yourself what from beginning to end encompasses my life. What out of all that am I most passionate about? Then go for it one hundred percent."

There's no doubt. Heather has a huge challenge in front of her but don't count her out. One way or another she is meant to be an entertainer and she'll definitely be an inspiration to everyone she touches through her work whatever that work may be.