Posted by
Billy on Thursday, January 27, 2011 11:24:26 AM
Gina Giaffoglione tumbles with the punches.
As a child, if she argued with a friend, she tumbled until she was happy again. If she had a bad day at school, she tumbled to forget what happened. If a relationship ended, she tumbled to ease the pain. (Rolling on after car crash)
After high school, Giaffoglione moved to Wayne to attend Wayne State College. She eventually opened a studio in Wayne.
After having a few drinks one night in March 2008, Giaffoglione and two friends decided to take a sports cars for a spin. Because it was designed for two, Giaffoglione sat on the lap of the man in the passenger seat.
Egged on by Giaffoglione and the other passenger, the driver pushed the car to 80 mph in a 25 mph speed zone. Then the driver lost control and crashed. Giaffoglione was thrown from the car and broke her back.
She spent a week in a Sioux City, Iowa, hospital, then went to Immanuel Medical Center in Omaha for more treatment and therapy. Shortly before the Fourth of July, she asked her doctor if he knew of anyone with a broken back such as hers who had ever walked again.
He told her no..
After that meeting, I moped around for a while. Then I woke up and determined I would walk again,” she said.
Giaffoglione's first step took her back to Wayne. In October 2008, she returned to continue her education and get a degree in counseling. But Giaffoglione wanted to get back to more than homework.
“I wanted to get the tumbling program started again,” she said.
Her class sizes swelled quickly. Now she teaches around 50 children ages 4 to 15. From her wheelchair, Giaffoglione offers directions, positions feet and arms and fine-tunes moves. Two high school girls are Giaffoglione's “legs.”
(Billy's Thoughts>>> What a powerful and uplifting story. I hope you will click on the above link to read the whole story.)