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| Photo: Thinkstock |
Elena Delle Donne is having a moment. The buzzed-about 6-foot-5 college junior has propelled
the University of Delaware Blue Hens to their first-ever NCAA win. But a few years ago, after an auspicious high school basketball career, Dell Donne was awarded a scholarship to the women's basketball haven, the
University of Connecticut, AKA, Hoops Heaven— only to return home a few days after school started to play for the (not very good) home team in Delaware. Why?
The answer: her sister. Delle Donne is extremely close with her older sister, who is blind, deaf, and has cerebral palsy.
As Delle Donne explained to ABC News, "Skype, cellphone, texting, email — doesn’t work with Liz. We’ve never spoken a word to one another so the only thing we have is
our physical contact. So that’s our whole relationship. It’s everything. She knows me by my smell and my feel, so, physically, physical
contact is the only thing she knows. So when I did leave, I
lost Lizzie basically. Well, she lost me and I wasn’t OK with that when I
left.” Delle Donne then took a break from basketball for her first year of college because she was feeling burnt out and wanted to recapture the joy of the game (yet another reason to love her).
And now that Delle Donne is back in the game, leading her team to unprecedented victories, she has her sister to thank. As Delle Donne put it, “She teaches me that you just fight no matter what." (
You have to watch the ABC video for the hug between Elena and Lizzy.) And that teaches us all a little something about the power of sisterly love.
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