JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================k" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?l[? 1[T?搜y#R)fz$ I ]J q YXzljd?) eƸL^v=z{#{HXac +,K9ֱS\Si4: ۬Ӛbv 2+e YP.G^1e8A"2*{׫xcS]Kx2BVyzg/r= ĩ$ZݬvzΝ x#i0}N [rtA=fxM8!; Df>@w6{$T-R̿{6ċ?ӷtZ6OWldubmzt]Tk[KyŹ;k+}kе[848m`}ɮZ_rXL*lE#CtV 8enA-OVdsZP`mw\{RI,zZ+] = %L,NE)[w2d)LN1N1n4"^T?/j\WV0MHv /j{2s`sQ ӠYVm)$ݙ淈@BztF=N00=q޴NmYr+piG2nb;;kꥵ u=+9ӳzel:FNFF+VӖ5du#c޺)|WbI 3kqWF6FG^ӜLe{m 8ZSū2Ʀ 4ISfk+/\jit&hF `zMwxFzZ7D\6jpnCM2-9^}E 6Ba\ö?JOnA]GG4I Mec27L?yc%e4Sl9 +sZ闲^O#$lCpxqy$|˷wLD,ʚ4dDRvh:a+t%aq# Nnyc:.#$Vj\t1\ sCQ[+Zīe-}HT*ĠsWjKKnUVbQʜD##MF a@b1 $br1r#d739JPf ;$pgBcSz'?W )Eu!A}1]lyU'W33!]A^zrOHaA$T{i[铁&?<11BFvMw<Qkf-5o#*$%ܪ'$01ZP\{~Au5XoO'Ȩ6t@Jvk57ăE]wY+aHFMfC;iBHLlRh`H@֥8[$aR!-QZ>gֵ{x ZmS67*x&2NF:כ;vWSajWg $dUszA;kA|OZ;mC:؀rIy]ZF'9Z" \͝ ˼ܒp}).lU ShP}[wRSO\QY `1Iw&Iw]#ibh Lc I 4T?%@7p{^0Le>\9]T{ի6} ֵ8R哉[-$h1;IlvvD=+&[q9cR:`CL r?*}-5 51!<:bA֙uL9TX4 ԆvCن?}Ev~ o E>Ƹ-O_ r:n8:S4.}I]-IEh( Ķ$sʬo S|o$]*ytz_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 was a de