(NEWS CENTER Maine)-- As we head into Thanksgiving, one woman from Sanford has an extra reason to be thankful. Kristen Johnson of Sanford ended up paralyzed after a car accident back in 1999 when she was just 16 years old. Johnson, with her sister and her best friend from childhood by her side, went to Colorado to try out some new equipment at the Bridging Bionics Foundation. After 19 years of not being able to walk, Kristen took one step, and then another, and then another. "Never in a million years would I have dreamed that I went there.. and after 19 years, I had movement in my legs and my feet" said Johnson.
Her trip out West inspired Kristen to work even harder back in Maine to keep working towards the goal of being able to walk again one day.
"I feel like a whole new person, not that my life wasn't great, I was happy before, but this has changed everything, it's changed how I look at life. I think it's amazing and if I can show my boys, like don't ever give up, you just keep going and sometimes life throws you things. Everyone has broken pieces and it depends what you do with those broken pieces, you can put them all together and make a masterpiece or you can let them fall apart" Johnson added.
Kristen's friends and family are putting together an event to help raise money for her to get soe of the equipment that will get her on the path of someday walking again. For more information on that and how you can help, click here: https://www.facebook.com/Kristens-Journey-To-Walk-Fundraiser-252431912079276/?eid=ARAaIeekaCFA-BSoqPvcVzrIO286zWNJm0a70nRPFT4EhLpy6p1xC_zbv8XuX4YpKca3giibejjtu_Aj