JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================q" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?V/j2wH{FV1YB9YBdԓD:xUZS_H}0QH ,}ՕFb??AV(bLcIU/2O 3e V:Ah*x1pOjʨ5mroWš?_p?*E{!Xs(@ujGf2`Ҫiw>z pOTłh<"[dQZ J(V44?gS +GEb| cZ"ƽOYϮYjVW0$X\dJ V+?@k=te>Xx5mؕ͹"g-HTUVƸHQB#ʳN?ՑqH♒{>qTu@U;qqU-~`a1s*ޡ Y_6XD}\%#*'U@Oƨ]: |*WMZvOڴ`seS1ai,VW~ f8o28|tBs.^I#{~q\S4uUq#ի>p?*/Z\Bm2a3(}NJc J#>H$܊g{ YaӥAf?)m,NP>h E[Ï`ƊblU†S Ozc2_Āl|Vݻ#zmB 7s\aW#kO8STS5T3Yh㸎Qdg=*62C+G$c#}s.n-v,pA~J"q|E m@1' IcwGgE)&5Si|sz?c2%^;Qla=Ͱ ?g#5cLmdIPvņpAa둌V&pv0H{7b͍։1E!@Q9խf[KV[B .G\Kѳ޽kaUԙ1*1vw8Z!Ow5NmԌ!S媼qQj^׵{֞@Ns+6~h4PQk.WZ۳60niǧg^Dd$2r 1W<&#k[ci 1 ӱgO,Ra zWhZi^A#eV,-Ҥ#,3E3S̩֧r?0i66unޒW<77>-lj;?ΰ`?968A+\"̊d sXpN4IB6Wt$L:GD$zkCXOVp޽x`cOldU5|$R@֤x2M"ƃY7ګ^8GYI3tjFi?MulIq 1sŗ8靂\doCd %䘮q"0ڛkP/u%LrCaxϠ/ qF䔨jy~%æ.8-1# c!Dt 4hYSE?AU"4 3rcp#}_SS$XI1b NO'!<A5sh܄ +td7O"ĜmPe7^LK kmY >cwN<0d-H! 6)<~"\qt\lD@>FGFf8"Fh?/ NTE٢uG  ?;Qۊݯx?qZ SC+F-./Xm!XF V_Nr\~x$74%Й>MoKxy?]/AVu.tG`"h6ue Ԗ$Z|cHhm!-pzѼ'*d8x]قud/!W(tlskZ+Vɖ\ǧZ@9#BHpɮv{9`qB@srH{8#Ԗ Dq+SCPrtkIynQe$9+lm;Hϔ+1'=i$Tb:鬖 5ycG0FF[{DP.v=ُ5Y)"F q1NB+:HLROomQO$e#o8foZLf]M4,\m8ŗs+pp%ߊ(GcddSA:LB Î[-R{_FɌ=JtbAIyegbSlM}>o28rFr4˹//y+D?S8j pJChristi 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 pi