With permission from Privette family
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Jenna Privette's path to the ice started the way most do in the state of Minnesota.
"My grandpa put me on skates for the first time, away I went," Jenna said with a grin from her hospital room in St. Paul on Monday.
That first skate is a bittersweet memory now. Jenna went down in a hockey game early last month and hasn't walked since.
"It hurts, my back still hurts, still can't feel my legs," Jenna said.
Jenna's family and her doctors are not sharing her specific diagnosis.
"What she is going through is private and it is up to her to work those muscles. It is up to her to do all of that and we don't need to explain all of that," Jenna's mom, Penny Privette said.
One of Jenna's doctors, Dr. Mark Gormley, says Jenna has already made progress.
"When she started off she had significant problems doing anything for herself. She still has some weakness in her legs but she is working really hard to get those going again. She is able to move herself in and out of her wheelchair and do some basic care for herself she wasn't able to do initially," Dr. Gormley said.
Jenna suffered a similar injury, one her mother calls a spinal contusion, four years ago.
But, Penny Privette said that after several months of treatment doctors cleared Jenna to play hockey once again, without conditions.
"She would never have been on the ice unless she was cleared by multiple doctors," Penny said.
The days to come in the next few weeks, maybe even months will start at Gillette's Children's Hospital for Jenna, where she will endure rehab four to five hours per day.
"I always say it's not what you accomplish in life it is what you overcome, you know, I hope to overcome this and just move on with my life," Jenna said.
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