It has been a year. A year since an unfortunate encounter with a stingray resulted in an injury to my right leg and ankle – a broken bone and a torn Achilles tendon.

Two surgeries to repair the tendon. Months of forced immobility, time away from work, surviving on a single income, painstaking rehabilitation and a mental battle that, at times, I feared I was losing.

I have been through a lot of surgery and recovery in the past seven to eight years. This one was probably the most difficult...