CHELSEY Grandfield was 16 when a car crash broke her neck in three places.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
During her second surgery to repair the damage, the Newnham teenager suffered a stroke.
When she met physiotherapist Rivca Swinson, Ms Grandfield was paralysed up her left side and was resigned to never walking again.
"I wasn't very good, I was pretty sad," Ms Grandfield said.
"I just thought, well, I can't move anything, I'm stuck with it."
Almost two years later the 18-year-old is walking, and has achieved goals to climb stairs, braid her hair, cut a piece of steak, use a handbrake and type.
Last year she returned to her waitressing job, and she will finish college in 2015 after missing most of grade 11 due to her recovery.
"I refused to go back to school while I was in a wheelchair," Ms Grandfield said.
"But by the time I went back I was on just one crutch."
Ms Grandfield's success motivated her to nominate Ms Swinson for the Australian Physio Association's I Love My Physio national award, and last month they learned she had won.
Ms Swinson, a neurological and muscularskeletal physiotherapist who works at the Launceston General Hospital, Calvary St Luke's and Prospect Medical Centre, said they were both surprised and excited by the win.
She said she was asked to help Ms Grandfield after she refused to move to Melbourne for specialised rehabilitation.
Ms Grandfield said she was grateful for the huge role Ms Swinson played in helping her stay at home and regain her life.
"If I didn't have the physio I would still be in a wheelchair," she said.