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Carlana Stone was just 17 years old when she jumped into the car with a friend who had been drinking.  That split-second decision cost her the use of her legs. She was sitting in the back seat of the car when the driver fell asleep, crashing the car. Stone suffered a spinal cord injury while the driver and other passengers didn’t face any serious injuries.

“My entire identity, at the age of 17, was wrapped up in my physical capability,” she said, now 38, according to her podcast on CarlanaStone.com. “In the blink of an eye, that identity was called into question.”

Despite her struggle to find a new identity outside of her physical capability, Stone’s injury didn’t deter her from finishing high school, attending the University of California, Berkeley to graduate with a degree in Slavic languages and devoting her life to challenging people’s perceptions of people with disabilities.

She was the first reporter in a wheelchair broadcasted in Miami.  Stone was also the first female paraplegic pilot in the U.S. to fly solo. In addition, she is an author, a sports enthusiast, an international motivational speaker and a TV show producer. She’s also founder of the nonprofit organization The Courage Community, which supports injured Iraq veterans through an online support community as they recover and transition back into domestic life.

Stone’s recent journey has led her to be the only contestant on two wheels featured on Oprah’s Big Give. The premise behind the show is that contestants will make dreams come true for strangers, while proving that all it takes is one person to truly make a difference in someone’s life.

"I believe that my wheelchair is less of a restraint and more of a force in my life," Stone said to Oprah.com. "Oprah's Big Give was an opportunity to really put that to the test. I wanted to see how well I've learned from my experiences in the face of adversity and utilize that to empower other people."

Stone has proved that living with a disability doesn’t mean sacrificing living life to the fullest and reaching your dreams.

“We’ve all found ourselves in the face of adversity, and we strive to not be defined by that circumstance,” Stone said on her podcast. “Circumstances don’t define us. Circumstances merely provide an opportunity for us to figure out what were made of and those moments are when we realize our true potential.”

Even though Stone was sent home after the third challenge, which aired March 16, Carlana expressed no regrets about her experience on Oprah's Big Give.

"I stand before you, or sit before you, proud as can be that I did everything in my power to really push myself to the limits," she said to Oprah.com. "I'm a control freak, and that was something that was very trying for me to really take a backseat."

Watch Oprah's Big Give Sunday evenings on ABC 9/8c. For more information about the show, visit Oprah's Big Give.

For more information on Carlana Stone, visit CarlanaStone.com or her business, The Courage Community.