JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?ȓU??4n>kVI玔ɿG[ˑhBW5WO 7?c@73|"y }h{r#RzxEޫ$MޢX"UARH]DŽ-;YglbC~I]67oy 0Ma-}s\nk^pƎHd+G-LA Sb49F%K^ $w$<:¼Q.w1$OC5 4RiY#,OAf7}ivzѱH$zt.[VcfHILQ`)R䞝U4k5~E\~դ}Ś٧^(b6-Ls,j(RhH}H+PՋZiw?S_< j5%=@ z4{;eXxoIit)@=DFF |b14m2=)n.t+viS#mz+:ϸvlg4Qp(2iF;x=K۽8d@ ASB)'0N@=r!pN2l%QpA ޸+ou;՛NlBgY] <10=ٴ>#~`O?»`9GzKB e]I&3deP+Ь._hn=IZ+Ki&F^cqO!C0<T~2d[HEgI WGRSOOZwv^7 T!c {7yDmu.Դ,$"גz\vmՒ9xp3Ce,>0@=338',:l ?H mNw`#nDj3֫iW:ՠ{pPX~7dOtf.j}!E±QW|=FIrފ״#J_jB gWVf?yNl29k;/1Dc j? !JHP UKa3?OBuY*ֹrVd\R?n}j#]_d'ƥڗA,r}WGsx.p\˳nnx$]fgxn IKzbhze*Jy,AGmJR1wqo1hf3ZQ&JMzη5 F>),bλP+樚1qZDxIR|x9x1¶4!l T3|nj{V>ϯ^f f8}i.YGh0Aa)9d0)%/Mm^$ܡb 3ҼJkP:y]HQBbFxhJkIv5 9ǵ<(L<~Th3m.&2~^c犷dGdԌ %LxUʂ%?P b@]+o2Q_mꗍikQuNfAֆ4r ]4pTKdkgR'sJбA)'ޒ'.O~InfOzSB9FGpA=FHTdv7*2>_j{?#0ӜjZӹĂBG)0n*{-DeIUN|{T{7;vTΜ' 'z#®W72n@'k˙ceAldc'ƶ\sWT>* bY1'5{6KKDФa4R[Z$Am݌*ysg:\PrsrW?1{Ո^Ͽڬڂ"(r(ɩĀ9faoR85zٔ '8˜H; ZI0IÀ8eVܪqje #^*$sIJ ][7,@?y Syy5,܂H,Z}Je\F1#7SK1x'7pF;.O81v[OQ#={P-Ҁ,4RD2(\ݞ,UQ!q@Y2ņ#8{8#L & xW#$^k<,ޤh;H={S@sjI#'֣G98y9 0hlAk .ҳɴ2qVoCː0q1 J\֣I=i1=zS[#"q+zpj\sQ_88'Η=9"OA4uq,mER\9wy*r{0RQC( R@SXG ׾OZ &r@Dn̉K@ʭBqӥINr(Jc)CM<@E8:ҮO 094g,m6)y>GT$mIVA cC0FZE9}piI?#Hhqu318E8(P Because my dad works in medical services and my mom too, I think 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.