Christa

Christa entered this world with a wild and adventurous spirit. At nine months, she was climbing out of her crib. She got her first stitches at one and took her first ambulance ride the day before her second birthday. She broke her foot twice, and both times she removed her cast early on her own. At 18, Christa moved out of the house and into her own apartment. “She’s always kept me on my toes,” her Mother Cindi recounts with a smile.

In February of 2018, Christa was driving home from one of her two jobs. It was a rainy night, and she saw a stalled car ahead. She swerved to avoid it and succeeded; however, in the turn, her car repeatedly hit the siderail. Christa was thrown out of the window as she continued to flip off the road. Severely injured, Christa was airlifted to a nearby hospital where she remained in a coma for weeks. Doctors saw her dire circumstances and immediately began preparing the young woman for the first of multiple surgeries. Christa finally woke up in the ICU five weeks later. She looked down at the spot where her leg once was, as her mom filled her in about her amputation, and the other details of the last life-changing month.

“Nothing can prepare you for this, but my accident-ridden childhood prepared me for this,” Christa jokes. Christa was determined to rehab herself and go home as quickly as possible. She spent her whole life fighting to be independent, and she was firmly set in not allowing the accident to set her back. But Christa’s mother knew that home was not yet, her next step.

“I volunteered at Ranken Jordan in high school,” says Cindi, “and I thought ‘I wonder if Christa could go there?’ So I called them, and together we got the wheels in motion for her to recover there.”

Christa was anxious for a quick recovery, and she wasn’t looking forward to having to go to another hospital. Upon admission to Ranken Jordan, Christa fell into depression. She expected her stay to be just like the previous hospital – stuck in a bed in the ICU, surrounded by busy staff, and worst of all, fully dependent on others.

To Christa’s amazement, day after day, Ranken Jordan exceeded her expectations. Surrounded by the playful environment and encouraging staff, Christa became a disciplined patient and tenacious with her therapy. “It’s night and day from a regular hospital,” she says. “They have music and art therapy, lots of recreational things to do like riding bikes and going to a café within the building. Everyone knows your name and your needs. They’re always in a good mood and make you feel loved.”

Through support from the in-house psychologist and the rest of the therapy team, Christa climbed out of depression. “They helped me realize it was okay to be upset – they encouraged me to feel what I needed to feel and then move on.”

She even found inspiration from other patients. “I looked up to every patient there with me. There was a 3-year-old there, and he could have been in pre-school playing with other kids, but instead he was in the hospital. If he could do it, I could do it.”

In a little less than three months, Christa finally discharged from the hospital, ready to return home. As she reacclimated to life outside of the hospital, Christa remained connected to Ranken Jordan with outpatient therapy visits. She even took time to mentor others in the inpatient and outpatient programs.

“I didn’t realize how much I needed Ranken Jordan, and I’m grateful I can give back,” she says. “Since the accident, I am so much more appreciative of everything. I used to constantly look at what was I going to do next. Now, I’ve learned to slow down and focus on the moment and what’s best for me in that moment. And after careful thought, I know what I want to do next. I want to be a physical therapist. I want to help others and see them progress just like I did.”

A New Chapter: Defining What’s Possible

More than eight years since a car accident that changed her life, Christa is still finding new ways to prove what’s possible.

After going home at the end of 2020, Christa continued challenging herself to do things others assumed would be impossible. She learned to drive using her left foot rather than buying hand controls, discovered a love for hiking with her boyfriend, and was active in adaptive sport through DASA (Disabled Athlete Sports Association), playing sled hockey against some of the nation’s top athletes.

“Many people assumed I’d be limited, but I would always ask myself, ‘Did I even try? Can I adapt it? If I wanted to do something, I found a way” Christa says.

June of 2026, Christa came back to Ranken Jordan, but not as a patient, but with her family by her side. During the visit, she looked back on her own story and reconnected with the medical team and staff who challenged and encouraged her throughout her recovery.

“Coming back healed was eye opening,” she says. “When I was a patient, I could come off as combative. I didn’t understand why they pushed me. Coming back, I could see it.”

Today, Christa is the mother of two young children. Becoming a parent brought new chances for growth. When her daughter was born in 2023, she worried about holding her safely and navigating stairs with her. She found herself relying on lessons learned at Ranken Jordan, including how to safely navigate falls and adapt to new challenges.

As her children grow, Christa has become determined to show them, and others, that a disability does not define what someone can do.

For a time, Chrisa felt self-conscious in public. Children at the park would stare at her prosthetic leg or cry when they saw her scars. She found herself avoiding certain places for that reason. Eventually, she decided to become an example for her children and for anyone facing obstacles of their own.

Whether that means hiking, riding an ATV, competing in sled hockey, or jumping on a trampoline with her kids, Christa continues to prove that limitations are often meant to be challenged.

“I’ve always felt different,” she says. “I never wanted to wear what everyone else was wearing or do what everyone else was doing. In a way, having one leg kind of fits who I am.”

More than eight years after her accident, Christa remains connected to Ranken Jordan’s mission. She hopes her story reminds other patients that recovery is not about returning to who you were before, it’s about discovering what you’re capable of becoming.