Jessi
Chapman
Ketchikan, Alaska
Few people can match 20-year-old Jessi Chapman
for spirit and determination. Jessi was badly injured in a
car accident in January 2006. A brain injury and cervical
fracture kept her in the hospital for eight months. At the
time, she wasn’t given much chance of living a productive
life. She’s proven that prediction to be very wrong.
Today, she gets around in her wheelchair, speaks with a special
piece of equipment called a DynaVox, attends college and plans
to become a teacher. Her mom Pat isn’t surprised. She
says Jessi always works hard to reach her goals. “It’s
her intention to teach in Ketchikan’s alternative school,
and I know she’ll do it.” Jessi believes everybody
needs a good education, regardless of the challenges they
face. Pat attributes Jessi’s recovery to her amazing
optimism and sense of humor. “Jessi just loves to laugh,”
Pat says. “I know that’s why she’s doing
things the doctors said she’d never be able to do.”
From Ketchikan General Hospital (Ketchikan,
AK) to Harborview Medical Center and Seattle Children’s
(Seattle, WA)
(More
patient and partner stories here)
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