Woman Paralyzed from Neck Down Overcomes All Odds to Hunt Again
OutdoorHub Reporters 12.06.17
Of all the buck stories we’ve heard this season, none have been more inspirational than the one you’re about to hear.
It’s the story of a woman, Katie Walters, who grew up outdoors and loved to hunt and fish. As WBAY reports, it’s also the story about her never-say-die attitude that helped her overcome devastating injuries from a car crash and get back into a deer stand.
Katie was a Manitowoc, Wisconsin, police officer, and had 13 years of experience under her belt.
On July 15, 2016, her career on the force came to a sudden end, when she was off duty driving on Highway 147 and lost control of her truck after she became distracted by her dog she was taking to the vet, WBAY reports.
She rolled her truck multiple times.
“I tried to get out of the vehicle and I couldn’t use my hands or my arms, so at that point I knew something was wrong,” Katie recalled.
She had broke multiple vertebrae in her both her neck and back, and suffered detrimental damage to her spinal cord.
“After surgery, my surgeon, Dr. Harrison, had come out and told my family she will be paralyzed from the neck down,” Katie said.
What he didn’t know was, Katie is a fighter, and she was ready to take this new challenge head on.
“There was never any feeling sorry for myself. It was you can either choose to lay there and give up or you can fight,” said Katie.
And what she did next, is absolutely incredible.
Katie was scheduled for a 10-week stay at a rehab facility in Chicago, but only needed 3 weeks to walk out on her own.
“I told them when I got there I was going to . . . I was going to walk out,” Katie said with tears in her eyes, and she did just that.
In case you aren’t already inspired, Katie went out this season and bagged herself a handsome 9-point buck. In typical fashion, she only needed 20 minutes to do it, too!
