Click the play button on the video window to the see the storyTEMPE, AZ -- It was May of 2007, when Trish Stressman was paralyzed from the chest down during an ATV accident in Mexico with her husband.
"I was like 'Scott let's go see the seagulls' and we wanted to drive out to them and see them fly," said Stressman. "That's the last thing I remember."
She was airlifted to a Phoenix hospital where she said doctors told her, "'This is horrible,' before I went into surgery they told me when I was all alone in my room I would never walk again."
Confined to a wheel chair, she continues to fight two years later.
She said doctors in the US told her this is as good as it would get because she burst her T6 vertebrae.
"And a chip of it hit my spinal cord, now I'm paralyzed from the chest down," she said.
"Accepting it at first is hard because you're used to being such a go-getter, I was a teacher for 15 years in the Kyrene School District.
But this former teacher recently found hope in Costa Rica.
"This is not available in the US yet at all, that's why we have to go out of the country," said Stressman.
That's why she's back in physical therapy at the Neuro Institute in Tempe.
It's all to gain strength for her upcoming non-embryotic, cord blood treatment.
"I get eight injections into my injury spot, into my spinal cord," she said, "They actually do a spinal tap where they remove some of the fluid first and then they put the stem cell in that spot."
To Trish, walking without help would be a miracle.
"Of course, that would be my dream, realistically, my goal is to work my hardest and see what comes back."
That's why you'll find her doing crunches, tricep dips and chip-ups with a smile.
Nothing is too much.
"I mean you can work your hardest and maybe nothing will come true," Stressman says.
From therapists, to her family, she wants everyone, including her two sons, to learn from her stamina.
"There's going to be challenges in their life and maybe they can look back to say Mom didn't quit," Stressman said.
As for her strength, she said it comes from her husband, who is always at her side.
"We're a great team, we can do anything," according to Stressman.
She leaves for Costa Rica on Saturday.
She has a blog and will be writing about her treatments the whole time she's in Costa Rica.
Stressman's family is also raising money to cover the $30,000 worth of medical expenses plus travel costs.
To help, just log visit
tstressman.blogspot.com.
