A hero is a person who is idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities, as said in the dictionary.  My hero, and aunt, embodies all of these attributes.  To have courage one must overcome an obstacle; she overcomes obstacles every day.  Carol Beth Steele was born on December 29, 1962 in Fort Worth, Texas to Chester and Pauline Steele, my grandparents.  Carol had a type of arthritis since birth that caused her joints to swell.  Also, she suffers from partial inability to hear.  Married with a law career, three children, and two dogs, she works every day to conquer her disabilities.  Although individuals may give up after suffering from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and lacking most of their hearing, Carol Steele never lost her intellect and now is the general counsel for Laura Mercier cosmetics.
Carol Steele has dealt with two major health obstacles in her life.  When she was a child, the doctors determined that she had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis that caused her joints to enlarge.  It is believed she has had JRA since she was born since she was born; JRA is an autoimmune disease.  With arthritis, she had good days and bad days and had to be positive as she waited for better days to come.  When she was six after a high fever that caused nerve damage, it was determined that she had one completely deaf ear and one ear that had fifty percent hearing loss.  Hearing aids could not help her because of the nerve damage so she had to learn to adapt to the teachers by sitting with her good ears toward the teacher.  As a real Helen Keller, she did not let her disability keep her down but kept looking for methods to succeed.  Even though Carol went through so many hardships as a child, she dealt with them and did not let them impede her from achieving her goals.
Carol grasped creativity as a child and practices it now as an adult.  When Carol was a child, it was more difficult for her to do things that other children did with ease such as run around or listen to the teacher.  Carol entertained herself by being a voracious reader and in class she would always sit with her good ear towards the teacher.  She taught herself to be creative because she wanted a solution to her problems.  When Carol is working as a lawyer for Laura Mercier cosmetics, she has to think of creative ways to solve problems.  She works with licensing agreements, contracts, and agreements concerning patents at Laura Mercier.  Lawyers have to be smart and strategic therefore learning to be creative as a child helps her today.  Carol discovered her creativity in part because of her health obstacles but it continues to help her today.
Carol teaches others to persevere regardless of their obstacles with a brave face and positive attitude through her determination.  When Carol was an arthritic child, she could barely get out of bed but always tried.  As a sick child who relied on crutches, she could have got out of school often if she wanted to but school was where Carol excelled and it was where she wanted to be.  She had good days and bad days with arthritis but kept determined.  When Carol was a partially deaf child without hearing aids, she had to persevere all the time especially at school.  She had to sit with her good ear towards the teacher but it was still difficult for her to perceive the information.  She could have given up but she kept succeeding and went to four years of undergrad with majors in Russian and Economics at the University of Texas at Austin and then University of Texas Law School where she graduated in the top five percent, Texas Law Review.
Carol Steele never stopped trying in grade school, high school, college, law school, and life.  Carol is a hero because even when life placed road blocks in front of her she kept trying until she succeeded.  As Helen Keller said, “All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming.”