You've read about her before. Now she's back in the news: Farmingdale State’s Tiffara Steward Named 2009 Comeback Award Recipient

Farmingdale State College's women's basketball junior guard Tiffara Steward has been named the recipient of the ninth annual V Foundation Comeback Award, given annually by The V Foundation for Cancer Research in collaboration with ESPN. ESPN will make the announcement during their telecast of the NIT semi-finals on Tuesday night. The award will be presented to Steward later this year at the Jimmy V New York City Basketball Dinner.

A junior starting point guard on the Farmingdale State College women’s basketball team, Steward stands at only 4’6”, but her short stature hasn’t been her biggest obstacle. She was born three months premature (May 12, 1988) weighing only 2 ½ pounds and was eight inches long. After undergoing six surgeries by the time she was three years old, Steward still battles multiple permanent disabilities. She is blind in her right eye, as she was born without a cornea, and has over 50% hearing loss in both ears. She has a leg discrepancy, and also battles severe scoliosis. Her spine, to date, is still not completely fused. This was all unknown to many of her teammates, the coaches and administration until recently. She received major minutes off the bench her freshman and sophomore years before earning the starting spot this season.