After suffering a severe spinal cord injury in an ATV accident last June, Olympic Gold Medalist Amy Van Dyken Rouen has taken her first steps towards full recovery, standing up for one of the first times since the incident.
On May 11th, Van Dyken Rouen posted a video to her instagram of her standing up with the help of what appears to be a walker.
Van Dyken Rouen used the hashtags “#IllBeWalkingSoon” and “GettingFittedForBracesNextWeek” indicating that the next stage of recovery is just around the corner.
Early on in her recovery, Van Dyken Rouen stated that she planned to walk out of the hospital, and it appears that her goal may not be too far off.
A six-time Olympic medalist, which includes home-crowd individual medals from the 1996 Olympic in Atlanta, Van Dyken Rouen was injured while riding an ATV in Arizona with her husband Tom Rouen when her vehicle struck a curb. The impact “severed her spine” at the T11 vertebrae according to a letter from her family obtained by the Associated Press.
Since then Van Dyken Rouen has made plenty of progress. In an appearance on the Today Show this past April, Van Dyken Rouen stated that she felt reflexes in her legs for the first time since the accident.
Amy, you continue to amaze….
Wow! I’m a PT, and from my experience, that is massively promising progress after such a severe spinal cord injury! Neither her hips or knees appear to be braced, her movement was controlled, and she was unassisted by her therapists! That is more than I thought possible for her! Very exciting and inspirational!