A woman whose hike in Michigan ended with firefighters saying she would never walk again has a very different story to tell now.
We’ve been there as she struggled through rehabilitation and -- just days ago -- proved everyone wrong.
The story of Christina Hurst is one in a million. Her life changed in an instant - bringing her to her darkest and scariest moments.
We caught her during her courageous fight to relearn how to walk.
Hurst knows all about facing life's greatest challenges.
"Every day is a reality check you kind of wake up and you think everything is normal for an instant, then you see your chair and you remember," she says.
That chair reminds her of the day her life came crumbling down June 2015.
"They say your life can change in the blink of an eye," Hurst says. “But I never really thought about it until it happened."
With a passion for the outdoors, Christina was on a routine hike with her dog Mason, enjoying the beauty of Grand Ledge, Michigan
"I had my dog on a leash and I don't know if he saw something and it just jolted me or if I slipped, but I ended up at the bottom of a cliff," she says.
She spent nine hours in the cold, dark and rain, falling in an out of consciousness, until first responders found her buried in brush.
She was rushed to Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, where she learned the extent of her injuries.
"Seven broken ribs, the T-12 burst fracture with the spinal cord injury, fractured L-1, L-2, L-3, L-4 and L-5," she recounts.
At just 30 years old, she was told she was paralyzed from the waist down.
"I heard the firemen say as they were leaving, she'll never walk again," she remembers.
After a painful spinal cord surgery, it seemed each triumph was met with set-back. She had a second corrective surgery and a broken femur from falling out of her wheelchair.
"Every day I wake up and I just try and remind myself to be better than I was the day before and try harder and be stronger,” she says. “Some days I fail and some days I succeed."
It's that positive attitude that got her backstage at the Fox Theatre on another rainy, chilly Michigan evening.
The Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan, the world-renowned facility where Christina spends three hours a day, three or more days a week, honored her courage at their annual gala.
To the applause of hundreds and with her family in the front row, Christina walked out to accept her award, her father by her side as she took her first steps in public since that devastating fall.
In true form, she spread her contagious sense of humor, before sharing her most vulnerable moments with strangers.
"I was lost and uncertain. I couldn't accept reality, I couldn't sit up in bed,” she says. “I couldn't even roll to my side in the hospital bed while pulling as hard as I could on the side rails."
It took more than a year and half to get here, walking on her own, fighting through the pain, the tears, the feeling of despair.
"Every little step that I take is... a miracle to me," she says.
It's her courage that keeps her fighting for that next step, even when she's told it's okay to settle.
"'You should be happy with where you're at, you've come this far.' And I am happy with where I'm at, but I won't ever stop trying to get further,” she says. “I'll spend the rest of my life trying."
Every day Christina Hurst wakes up looking at that chair, reminded her life will never be the same, she's accepted it will just be a little different.
"They said I would never walk again and in one shape or another, I am," she says.
Her next goal is to get the leg braces down below her knees, which would allow her to bend her knees as she takes each step forward.
She also just passed her driver's training program, so soon she'll be driving her own car with hand controls as she works toward independence once again.
If you'd like to help with Christina's recovery, go here.
