Zoe Bosanic was born with no right arm while her left arm ends in a nub above her elbow, a condition called Bilateral Upper Extremity Amelia.
She was born in China but was adopted by Brian and Karrie from DeWitt, Michigan.
The couple already had a previous adoption and weren’t planning on another but when Karrie saw Zoe’s photo, she knew she had to adopt her.
Watch her inspiring story below.
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Video credit: Rumble
“I saw Zoe’s picture and I just fell in love with her and I started writing letters that night to the adoption agency,” Karrie explained.
Having no arms hasn’t stopped Zoe from helping her mom in the kitchen or brushing her own hair.
Brian said: “It humbles you to watch her do things that you sit there, and you don’t know how she’s going to do it, but she finds a way to do it.”
At the start, it was difficult for Zoe to even stand up.
“When we first brought her home, she was falling a lot because she didn’t have good balance,” said Karrie.
But you wouldn’t know it today because Zoe plays four sports and competes in three of them.
“I play four sports: karate, dance, baseball and soccer and I play three sports competitively: karate, dance, and soccer,” explained Zoe.
Of the first day Zoe tried playing baseball, Karrie said: “The first day that she played, there were a lot of people in the audience that were teary-eyed watching her play. She was so little and just so amazing.”
At the moment, Zoe’s favorite sport is karate.
“My favorite is karate because I like kicking and I’m good at it”.
Zoe’s sister says she has always been driven.
“She’s definitely got the personality type to be so good at everything she does. I won’t lie, it makes me jealous a little bit because she’s amazing at sports that I can’t even do,” her sister Taylor said.
Despite what Zoe has achieved, she still often gets stared at when they’re in public.
“Just walking around I’ll notice people are staring or pointing. We’ve even had people just like come up and touch her, it’s strange,” Taylor explained.
“If we go to the grocery store, there’s inevitably one little kid who’s in the store in their shopping cart and they point and say ‘Mom look at that little girl she doesn’t have any arms,’” Karrie said.
One particularly upsetting encounter occurred in a restaurant.
“This girl was filming Zoe eating – I did stand up for her because I really don’t think that’s appropriate, filming anyone without their consent,” Taylor explained.
While Zoe is quite independent, she still gets assistance from a support dog named Mochi.
“Mochi helps me at school by carrying stuff and bringing stuff to me. And at home Mochi helps me with getting stuff out of the fridge and getting papers for me,” Zoe said.
One thing Zoe’s parents aren’t worried about is her future.
“She can do pretty much anything she wants; I don’t see anything really holding her back. Whatever she wants to do, she sets her mind to it she’ll find a way to do it and be successful at it,” Brian said.
“Not a day goes by when I’m not super proud of her,” said her sister Taylor.
Replaced!