Most of us can point to a time or an event in our lives that forever changed us.
Sometimes it happens later in life for Gina Springhower – it happened just as she was starting hers.
“I ran my own tumbling business, I was doing well in college, my life was perfect,” said Gina.
She was 21 and a junior at Wayne State. Gina had her sights set on great things - when a decision to get into a friend’s car would change everything “I just had that gut feeling something was wrong - something was going to happen,” said Gina.
The car she was riding in jumped the curb; hit a light pole and a cement-filled post before flipping several times. Gina rolled with the care before being tossed out onto the gravel.
“They say when I went through the window I went through butt first so I bent in half and that’s when my back broke,” said Gina.
The fact Gina survived without so much as a scrape on her head is nothing short of a miracle. The injuries she suffered from the waist down would prove to be her greatest challenge.
“I went from a 21-year-old independent, successful business owner and student - to a 21-year-old infant in seconds,” said Gina.
But as you are about to learn, roadblocks don’t exist in Gina’s world. “I’ve always been that kind of person that whatever life gives, you roll with it,” said Gina.
And so she did. With the help of her team from CHI Rehabilitation Center at Immanuel, Gina set out to rebuild her life one painstaking step at a time.
“I told my therapist I need to get back to being able to teach tumbling and they didn’t know what that was. Once they figure it out, they said okay this is what we need to do to get to that goal. They were on my same page the whole time. They never told me it wouldn’t happen – they never let me lose hope,” said Gina.
And she didn’t. Gina spent nine months in therapy before adjusting to her new normal. She finished college and went back to teaching tumbling. But there was still something missing – something she dared to dream about - love.
“I’ll never forget what she told me. It was a few years after the accident she says ‘Dad, do you think anybody will ever love me?’ I said they will sweet heart. We’re just filtering through a lot of things right now. Someone will find you - someone will love you for what you are,” said Gary Giaffoglione, Gina’s dad.
And then came John - the guy with the big smile who only noticed hers.
“She makes me feel like I’m six years old again, she brings out the little kid in me,” said John Springhower.
The two became one on Sept. 13, 2014. Friends and family had no idea the bride, who spent the last six years in a wheelchair, would walk down the aisle with the help of specially designed braces, the man who never left her side and her team at CHI Health.
“It all started right here at CHI Health - with all the work, all the practicing, all the therapists, all the positive reinforcing. They went the extra mile to help us out here. The true meaning of helping people is what we got here from day one,” said Gary.
Gina got that day every bride dreams of and more - the dress, the flowers, the walk with dad and all its struggles, and the groom - who sees past the wheel chair to the girl who lights up a room.
“Now I have somebody who loves me a whole bunch and I’m sure of it,” said Gina.
