JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?mMk,9FH5iv.U(8=km3hNg?Y:1lBRULGRMDf2Fc+GR(CȠQj! dXh/q9i- A/'G +U9◘[jLЅ[H5}$F!q\j]jD_UHn`?"D+rI]÷֭X>|p+Cq& S<|drqVe-hqB}imm488z z{+[^5$Qې9<}/ sJΦNȤHNo/lIb>|!E1%v5[eWa_&7z\6*t_)hjEM;#yL"(\3VlVtQs =jϖp{k_ö_H*ԞR*ڝ``J3V2\s֭$0?Pin EPn)byr;wa,+$_dUTT`O('=A&cdh@G_XFywSmX`8朜t0M&v jcF2sruR:{W$`H5iz0eV@lu2qHռed a&9rdU듊r^MW=F;=Z+K9 k/Vؾ@l8l?Z%yF+BE~ЎT?!)8Mvvk&o`Z?e~s]Zǜ\ZY g;@b9ǧQ#pI=džb||zZ| tOrj8 !n}KtU誸$'MIrsڦJ&\+!󢵔,`,@}}IQ!P s1Im<c`OЎ 靉b+ԵʰjVm^ T<֊MSbF'˻hͼ3W uɬVcv~bqZAV#Ԯ@?) WE6`@bgu[v'IWe9  ݤak: jZ`}ҪG@)nWɃ qp٨mKR'~@ŷ9m-S/J5lfj*Cc:9`?xhE>8$(d=2pEYӴV-li~ w9^iMh?3kӴM.2(ɮ.mBRIh-hZ"kl<>AQMv-10?ʺqԟrnWu5SJWie˽s>k<;I=&R`qg/!c߭s+h})Zg hJ4sjBJ" 5cBdE<MvvHoaܺEiMqWg% xntRg@9*Arxu&%@}M"U)Ij$rF+f=k]< qrf#k-j}d΀磎5j:Ճ"2GW|*3AEH֕yCNja5"0xƺԹUduzc|!c8RV Gkqn|QwexY(!{'^(EYaløqF_V(~+Kn)q2v25>X /8\ e ʫ/Jq1ݳUFR'Ҫt#4 ~b#@:c*Cō;8:h:IȧF9 AE3xz=@QcMO8< r3YJs`ٯJ(x`q]ېO+k[f(8b=.IL4D#9bvn0㊶NGjWP;lW[[p0h i#Wv{gנWɾt-41LgꞠ_mɜ0 \eKsHϡ+rck㊿Hb'?Tm9`v54"CQ[L/iGh3b'Q_W=nį'bp ?3?~x:(VLr?s.Q]09s_k]& ?cE7,)Eo(Q@I received special treatment, she says with a laugh.<br>Christi had fractured her L2 vertebra and dislocated her L3. Doctors were  cautiously optimistic that she would walk again. A week after doctors affixed a temporary rod-and-screw assembly to Christi s spine, she was moved to Our Lady of Lourdes Rehabilitation Hospital. Her gymnastics coach Joanne Thaw was at her bedside.<br> I knew if anyone was going to make it back from this, it would be Christi, says Joanne.  I don t train kids for the Olympics here. I train them for strength, for conditioning, for flexibility to compete. For Christi, I think some of those benefits she got here--the upper body strength, her competitiveness and her ability to focus--helped her to recover. <br>Her early rehab was stoked with an athlete s desire to push herself and was aided by her excellent physical conditioning and strength.<br> The rehab wasn t that much different from gymnastics, says Christi.  It s a win-or-lose situation. If you don t get first place in a gymnastics meet, you come back and you work harder. Every day in rehab, when I couldn t walk and then when I barely could, I reminded myself that I had to work a little harder. If I hadn t had that attitude, things might have turned out differently. <br>Christi broke her back in June, losing all feeling and function from the waist down. By July she was walking with braces and a walker.  I d regained some feeling, she says.  But I couldn t feel the difference between sharp and dull. My legs tingled and sometimes it felt like they d fallen asleep. It was strange to look at your legs and not feel them. <br>Progress was quick. In August she went back to school and reduced her rehab to only three times a week. In November she switched to a sports rehab center in Wichita, about 30 minutes from Hesston. There she began using more weights and was soon able to walk on her own.<br>She returned to school in September for seventh grade, but at first Christi couldn t do any sports. During the spring she went out for track and shot put, and ran the 100-meter for her last meet. She was slow, it was awkward, but she did it.<br>That was the picture when BFS first caught up with Christi five years ago. She wa