In a hotel room near Colorado's Ouray Ice Park in March, Christa Brelsford readied herself to scale a wall of solid ice-and felt the tears flow as she took her first, crutchless steps on her new prosthetic leg. "I knew I'd do this again," she says. "But finally, it was real."
One small step-and a new beginning for one brave young woman. On Jan. 12 Christa, 25, a graduate student from Arizona State University and a volunteer at the Cabois Literacy School in Darbonne, Haiti, struggled under the rubble of an earthquake that killed 230,000. Dug out by her brother Julian, 27, also a volunteer, and several Haitian workers at the school, including a teen whom she has since befriended, she was flown to Miami, where doctors amputated her right leg four inches below the knee. Her smile-and determination after such a loss-made headlines around the world.
Today, after four more surgeries, Christa is back to her studies and her lifelong passion-climbing. "As soon as I could, I went to the gym," says Christa, who got further encouragement at the Colorado event for disabled climbers.
Aiding her recovery: her family and fiancé Ethan Coon, 28, who popped the question in the hospital. Her new nonprofit, Christa's Angels (christasangels.org), has already raised $110,000 to rebuild the Cabois school. "She has a tenacious spirit-and she's using this opportunity to help," says pal Elizabeth Johnson. Christa wouldn't have it any other way. "I'm missing a foot," she says, "but I know I can do anything I want."
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