(soft music)
- My friends and I, we drove to Torrey Pines State Park.
We parked at the top and walked down the beach trail.
I remember stepping onto the beach,
I remember it being a gorgeous day,
and that's sort of where my memory of that day stops.
- [Rescue Worker] We're at Torrey Pines right now,
I'm trying to get at the rocks that fell on a girl.
- My mom yelled from downstairs, she yelled my name,
but I could hear in her tone (man speaking faintly)
that it was not her usual, Daphne, I'm home.
It was, there was something else in her voice
and told me, "Anna's been in an accident."
My first question, is she alive?
She wasn't even able to answer that.
We drove to the airport, and that's when I sort of lost it.
I remember screaming in the airport, and
TSA agent asked me if I'd be okay, and I was just sobbing.
- [Rescue Worker] We have a major trauma.
- And then we had to sit on a three-and-a-half-hour flight
not knowing if she would survive.
(soft music)
- And then we walked into the emergency room,
and there she was, beautiful as always, but just asleep.
- I held her hand and whispered in her ear that I loved her,
and I hoped that she could hear it.
- When I first woke up and when I first started remembering,
Erin was the person who was there to tell me
what had really happened to me.
- And Anna said something,
something, like, "What happened to my legs?"
- I think I was asking the question out loud
that hadn't been confirmed by anyone yet,
but I think I knew.
- I remember just looking her right in the eye and saying,
you were at Torrey Pines and some rocks fell on you,
and you have a spinal cord injury, and the doctors said
you won't be able to move your legs again.
And there was this long pause, and everyone in the room
was just holding their breath,
and Anna looked at us, (sighs)
(laughing)
and Anna said,
"Then I guess I'm gonna be a really good swimmer." (sniffs)
- When I'm in the water, I don't really feel any different
from anybody else in the water around me.
- I am gonna take you on your back
The reason for that is, you can breathe.
- Feeling my mom's, my dad's, my brother's, my sister's pain
that they felt for me when I was struggling.
- Chin up, chin up. - So, knowing that
if I didn't keep fighting,
that it would hurt them more.
- And there's always what I call the basketball effect,
when you first roll over, you're gonna go down,
and then you'll come up. - Every time I get
into the water, I learn something new
about the way I need to
move my new body in order to swim
and feel safe and confident in the water.
- For a lot of people, when they're done swimming,
they stand up, but what will you do
if you're just out there?
And that's where I want you to have that roll.
Nice, good job.
- Yay. - How'd that feel?
- Great, I feel very free.
- I think that's one of the most beautiful things
about swimming, being in water,
is that you leave behind any devices you need on land,
and you come in and now it's just you.
- Anna is, (chuckling) she's incredible.
There's no other person like Anna.
- When I first started using my wheelchair, I didn't realize
how hard it would be to roll up a ramp, or get down a curb.
- Up, and down. (Anna laughs happily)
Like a rock star.
- Through Sharp's occupational therapy program,
they really helped me navigate my new world.
- Good job, Anna. - Thanks, Mom!
- And what we're working on is to eliminate the hesitation
as she, just to maintain the momentum.
To go forward, pop up, and keep going, pop up.
Not fast, but try without hesitation.
And just when I think, is she ready for that?
And I throw it out as a possibility, she goes after it.
I say we get rid of that platform and try the four-inch.
- Yeah? - Yes.
You're ready for it. - Alright, let's do it.
- Alright, as if you ever said no.
- Pop. (sighs) - Need more speed, bam.
- [Anna] (laughs) ooh!
(laughing) Oh!
- You know, Sharp and Sharp Rehab sort of
set me up for success, so I don't want to disappoint them.
- I mean, you've seen her, she just, whole-face smile,
and, I mean, her whole life's changed,
and she's goin' after it.
- They contacted me to help train her
for the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon.
She was training for that at the time of her accident.
- Feel the burn. - Yup, there you go.
So you actually could pedal fast.
- [Anna] Okay.
(Anna laughing)
- There you go.
As soon as it starts gettin' hard, start downshifting.
Downshift, downshift, you can do it.
Once you're on your bike, you can just go as far as you want
wherever you want, that's pretty cool.
- That's amazing.
(orchestral music)
Gorgeousness!
- [Rick] Yeah, it's not bad.
(Anna laughs)
- I definitely like to be able to drive to work
and to the grocery store,
and seeing friends and all those things.
- Across the United States? - Yes, that too.
- There you go, perfect. - Thank you.
I'm so grateful to my whole team of therapists.
I obviously would, I would just be in bed
if it wasn't for them.
They've, you know, taught me how to move again.
Do you think that I'll need a ramp and a swivel seat?
- Probably not.
As you continue to work with your therapy people,
you're gonna gain a lot more independence.
- Okay. - Okay.
- Yup, ready.
I was just gonna ask you. - And when you decide
what car you're gonna purchase.
That's another thing that's gonna be interesting, yeah,
'cause it's a two-handed job to change gears, obviously.
And just let the idle speed
take you around the corner by this van.
- Not having to think so hard about what is gas
and what is brake and how do you shift the gears,
and all those things makes me concentrate so much on--
- Exactly. - What to do,
and I hope eventually I'll be able to also
focus on the environment. (laughing)
Here we go.
- Good job, Anna. - Wow. (laughing)
- Team Anna driving. - I'm very excited
to be able to just go somewhere all by myself,
even if it'll just be driving along the coast road,
or going to the grocery store, I love the grocery store.
Or to work, it's anything that, just, I can't even imagine,
I haven't really been by myself at all,
I can't even remember what that feels like.
- It was about, maybe four or five months
after her accident, you know, everyone's talking
about coming back to work.
And Anna's response was, "Well, I'll be back to work
"by Christmas, like half time or full time by then."
And we all were like, Anna, that's crazy, why would you,
how are you gonna be able to do that?
And come like November, Anna's at work, seeing patients.
- The first time that I could put my white coat back on
and come to work and see patients,
that's really when I started feeling like myself.
It's when I was able to become a caretaker,
a provider, a physician again.
Dr. Erin King is one of my besties here and colleague.
We just bonded immediately.
She's been there every step of the way
through my medical journey.
Being on the patient side, feeling vulnerable and broken,
helped me really learn
what a patient needs from a physician.
Hey, I'm Dr. Hackenberg.
And any medical problems?
I sort of had to relearn the physical exam a little bit.
Just had to, you know, maneuver around a patient
from a different perspective.
'Cause when I first enter the room,
I'm already kind of at the patient level, so,
although I think patients are a little shocked, maybe,
that I'm on wheels, I don't think they mind that.
Usually they're sitting, and so I'm sitting,
so we get that eye to eye interaction.
- She's, has this like, unending supply of sunshine
that just bursts out of her when she turns the corner.
- It's her smile, she is just bringing sunshine
to everybody's life.
- She brightens up any room she rolls into.
- Her colleagues at work call her Dr. Sunshine.
Which I think is probably, for a doctor,
that's the best title that you can have.
And from a patient's perspective,
that's I mean, what other doctor would you wanna have?
- Everybody
was just always there
you know, with me,
I didn't have to do any of this on my own.
- And that, I give you 5% at the top.
- Yeah. - At top.
This is your best one, here's where it gets harder.
Stay back, stay back, stay back, there's more of an angle.
- Underneath all of this is just, is my family,
my friends, my community, my Sharp family.
- This is the ultimate activity of daily living
that gives you independence. - Yes.
Driving independently is the best.
I can go wherever I want.
(soft music)
(all cheering)
I would not be here this far without my
amazing family and friends and everybody,
so I'm just super grateful.
(crowd cheering)
- [Race Announcer] There they go!
(orchestral music)
- [Race Staff Member] Wheelchair coming through,
wheelchair coming through.
- And in the water, I mean, you don't see
she is one that sits in a chair.
She just looks like any other swimmer out there.
- She's a really good swimmer now. (sniffs)
- I just hope she doesn't let it get in the way,
'cause she's still the same Anna.
And we don't care if she's sitting or standing.
- Being in the ocean, being free, being independent
and getting to be my best self is all I could hope for.
- The sky's the limit for her at this point.
(orchestral music)