JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?~TPzҁYSIJ)v{Rg&O|HBlKvʦz#҄i+.kxG5?*K .],RcUr})¸_ O5ťp*AdЊM4Zi!Nr?Jh=.#qkDgj=pQ(JQZQz'dQN[aE-%%5:QE0200r1֜b01ҤJ xF:D>fI:E}&=Ԓq={ҤYO9=M1KۛV܌qy͔%2N}k!Ign+ E!9+ gRKCz#fsv6 +EU `vUѮ[Niϯ.[̙c 8_{chжXn?{5ioj@QڶNIݘ֬B dV} @Gzk \5U. p#֬+U*lM.i PJԌԊj!F:b_bJĚ>\ǒOZdXǃVmR񊤀D֥*7)v/9FS/4Q`vL0эƀqA;RLDLb}zՂF4n09PBXy15-YZ)9fUU&wpqgV6FAV1wfhhěbzc54K=5 Ro@;Kj#5ĩ+kriz6LcHU9w[IӇn8;*W=R yX;:b¢UccdgIoPZ1$Qms/=qң5-rᆩb}z̛+5KR;ie7A뎣uF;h.ozTlcOKu~gu1d)݉9*ޱqDeƒ1b n_%ƈc/8Sx&%*.$*j[=|ѝEj%vamsw`w?:zaFUSֲ|U,X#&g[?\Vh{IΛgk nh)s3NQJ?r? έ`oM[t<2;ZsNW3K;^QHQxZ1"(HҋʂIr6Ӊ*z*dRW-*|<"U LgJ KYݜ9@ Q6r<1CFc ?|Uls+9]O%2+E$քJ..> .'rю09>ʹmSHҬu V5AqĖTx1+,oմ1sq/hQ+) ʛk E3i tiV:P)m /smk;h.T)`wg8 Q,Yfrԟ\U+ԻMtZ}hfV VE"3֪h:{&T=;ȹ#l)[=ko5ǁdRz]Qh wcԚtn&`>R%_$ٝ8ƩiW0k˹᜕PINj[9v xYp#A VsrOiwee8k)s PHQV-*{T[F4"$s]Pa+~sJو8J2ݎzEu dH\换X~3B|,}2'(E,GH#E0qҞyF9$FbŽy,UpuFG\MUq ,F@[#}` #r3^K}9&wFG+#=s]#=GJ]N%9FjoZȌ30*iM+?tQQM2:zҊ)RvvDأ:E33gyF4QX˩IRw;<q\cQE(ʬG(amu qV:}؟\AZ=G◆MRӭ"J>e'kqJ 'ɷ9?xc\-^0A`d=k g@Z{IsJc ZNԽĵǚC<>HҐ^r3O{YC#"FE=M&RgS|HlK[סx[źnz;KyR 8= xcWiG8넟ʓ@ҵdԟa&n;J9#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 was a determined girl fighting the odds, but no one knew if she would make it. Catching up with her now, just beginning her senior year, we re proud to see her spirit still pushing her on the athletic field and to learn she is not only fully recovered from the accident, but stronger for the effort.<br><br>Better Than Ever<br><br>In the summer, only a year after her accident, Christi began running well.  I was doing everything, she says.  If a normal person saw me they couldn t tell anything happened. I was playing volleyball, basketball, track and gymnastics.<br> The doctors actually say my back is stronger because of the bone they took from my hip to fuse my spine. I have no side effects, none. It s amazing. Sometimes I forget the whole accident happened. <br>Pressed on the subject, she admits to some weakness in the right leg.  I need to compensate with the left, she says,  but I m working on fixing that