JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================K" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?u S\.qeo vKr^xBIrZ/ ʯtq0kWTN=h/ _W_G_ZGa}nV06ېO8 :ߥw,!3&eXdc\<A{MX@JK`H#G ڛmNku8k"xSIrA=* &gZrKpcn)k׈;tm0*ݰ$W:7Ռ(Zkhͻ#;0}t3+Z)W4AO]k>\ncl _CCO}.oۄx?ҭi->I &RY1=s@^ 壒A#\÷AUݬe?eĖ̀*Jv? ]k(ؐ:4oh$i&bb4_ h4Dhw 26 VYXq '6x\X :~`;Y׈|3mZĪ\Ef?VbNr{jί M_H{}cMxbg3 w4c#^Jc ixn{WtrxVx8<޳[/5IY= A Ρ{[dgߨnq#8jx߇Q<@!F T0<"/Ajׅjnd!~vSܜMuӿ/Po'7DboCcZZ=ލid 2lFAB$Ju~j4 e[]E@2~cԚ{M6\][*(vy$pvVLVC1<Ӹ#V۾1,rH23͗{;^5Uǯz;].qZխNhT|Qu ǃɲemӰqޯhǴZI~& A Z\,1+&>wpEhkF[m-܄}UuFN,D@ TzU g۞aʮa 8_h>ki q 35j{$gk+C`eU\f#Y> Dಂ9VCt*G i~ ݤ2wnUČ9{ ֶ=xD[i$eTd^O.huS@tsYu{Ď0p O8?g2<sM4?בb`rqڵt5mq/DgxIőDY  ͟9溍@:{Gk8)VNt?EsOg-+9n[p5t[?_EsZ΁vAwDx]kL[gx +CZ[ET4iZtVp:cG |Vc?i"D_銢T+l0a~t]v]REXA&6袀4A^dTVSm&?[0ޓtQ@-3zue-3-8sO6Zm`2c8groggy but I still remember all the care and attention I received there. 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