Crash victim defies odds to walk again

Jody Graham walks the track at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2012.

Six years after a crash that almost killed her, Jody Graham walked a stretch of a south Ottawa track Wednesday night – steps her doctors never thought she’d be able to take.

Graham was a soccer star on her way to practice in 2006 when a car crash left her with severe brain damage.

Doctors said she wasn’t expected to live, yet alone walk again, and while she’s lost the ability to speak her mother Cheryl said she never doubted her daughter would be back on her feet.

“Well, a mom’s a mom right, and your child is always your child . . . so you don’t give up, it’s not an option.” Cheryl Graham said. “There’s always hope, there’s always faith.”

Jody completed a 100 metre dash that night, doing so in front of a crowd of supporters at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility.

“I’m so impressed, I’m so proud,” said her trainer. “She’s worked really hard.”

“She was this amazing, vibrant young woman and she still has all that within her,” said another friend.

Paralympian Rachel Burrows stopped by to watch her walk, just days before she leaves for London.

“I think it’s great and I was actually pretty inspired,” she said. “It’s harder for anyone who’s able-bodied to end up with a disability, it’s harder to cope and you’re not quite sure where you fit in.”

Jody, who can communicate by moving her left hand, said her next goals are being able to talk and eat on her own.

With a report from CTV Ottawa’s Ellen Mauro