JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================T" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?^q H oKcթkHĊ2 ?jՐM(9LQ] zVϧKhI`BBs{~vްXD4Sڬ~B{WQfUETY9ە&Ǎ$cNXjٲxn LX+ V$F.A aڭd>aܟ`jL<FSNf?+Tm@Tk[{GBfmSEOz%3q?v6"IG~ci&`',2z MZ3[,2Kelrj[.,n˃n}+݌_Mr (zT|BJoDri,,Yw5pZ{(>lgc8zf}qά}A~uiC1jA-0\}mT_yTX 凚L;FySo^X)s#C<"U/ٴ5VFi%̐]zd~tːJgdxFXҠXl0+}JJ#>c7RS}#KCqw<=YQ=+tvmi"|G@l^yEE98r[]O#G Fc8W+`P0޹ }Y|AlQ+Z܊5"`ЬX2%Arkv9*?ҲXQF:G׮ê$)o\Y_ƬC*YѾ=jV$}^o^&i ͻ~quϠ[H68 ?smj@ZIsuc$L#:ݼ?JRwѕ"t*(U.'F|?sڭVl>IbOS\oh3Iw ubĻr1ϴiwh2{8V>` ' WtE8X] ~m;Úu%K8{bxHh6pFx{itI؉Ldz%h2kudb=&)$4DkOY"t۶U=;Crz+Andmo!G î*px⅃2kVةsGM=b&LI*]CDXR69P0N飯Vcy-'tNZ 9sZ+h gX㳋 ,`+>fUsKoOo33u;A;Ve/[\1*+[[XRwfgIiV-+ y8qj=hxBA bNrp)k-ԊWl.ea=,l$rK 1mr} `u%vLl}ݬ++ŽR".HIy3q5IpH2 ??ZC K 'Z=*263p=jP"8b$bxnkm,)#/) mΛk<~[r'h3bEk`}kP̙(!+ʸ]dfV,ucwiX42&4A2jkJe$vt7Ky97Ldz}8 4*PSWE#E ۈUYv-50Tr+R-L֊+9nh,0O3j I"FYAܻ֊*P2ir*H>(c(;F}qQ;wu=sE':x5u\cQ@n@BMhEt8⢸?Q@*hϭFenQIh0\(ra @G\ɢ2/n$\&(Iactured 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 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 p