The lives of a metro family were changed after a recent run down a sledding hill in downtown Oak Grove.
Shelly Hartwig and her husband, Johnny, have spent the last 13 days at the bedside of their daughter, Taylor, at Children's Mercy Hospital after she was injured in a sledding accident at Frick Park.
VIDEO: Sledding Run Proves Tragic For Metro Family
Taylor struck a tree on her right side and couldn't get up, he said. She lost feeling in her legs. Doctors found that Taylor had fractured two vertebrae and bruised her spinal cord. Doctors used screws and rods to stabilize her back.
The Oak Grove eighth-grader is paralyzed from the midsection down.
Shelly Hartwig said her husband thought Taylor was laughing at first, but then she yelled to him, "Daddy, I can't feel my legs."
"She's helped us get through this more than anybody can imagine," Johnny Hartwig said. "It's remarkable how strong she is through all of this."
Johnny Hartwig said Taylor, 13, had been asking to go sledding, so on the day he lost his job, he took her sledding.
"The day happened to be my last day on my job -- that's why I had been able to take them sledding," he said.
Taylor and a friend borrowed a two-person sledding tube for the run.
"She knew something was going to happen, and she braced for it the best she could," Shelly Hartwig said.
Taylor's parents said that she had good results during a reflex test on Wednesday and that has renewed their hope.
"It's too soon to tell if she'll walk again," Shelly Hartwig said. "We're leaving it in God's hands."
The family said they are struggling with all the emotions of the situation, including dealing with what they'll do to make their house wheelchair-accessible when Taylor comes home.
A fund has been started to help the family with the expense.
Link: Taylor Hartwig Recovery Fund
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