Paraplegic student learns to walk

Earning the respect of many people and being known as “pretty, but tough” are what UVU student Cambry Kaylor has accomplished.

After a tragic horse-vaulting accident, Cambry Kaylor was left paralyzed from the waist down. However, through determination and hard work, she has learned to walk again.
Horse vaulting, a combination of gymnastics and horse riding, is something Kaylor had enjoyed since she was young. On June 21, 2005, it changed her life forever. An accident while at practice left her back broken at T11 and T12 and her spinal cord severed. She spent one week in the ICU, two weeks in a hospital and remarkably only one month in rehab.

Since then she has had to make many adjustments, from social changes to learning how to drive using her hands. “Things are going to happen, and it’s not going to be like you want, but a person really can get through anything,” said Kaylor.

Above all, Kaylor wanted to live a normal life. She became involved in a program that teaches paraplegics to walk with braces and canes, using the muscles in their hip flexors. The program is called Sit Tall, Stand Tall.

Kaylor recalls the program’s intensity and describes it as a “tear you down to build you back up type of program.” Kaylor first learned to crawl, then to walk on her knees, then to walk with canes and braces.

Although she still uses her wheelchair, knowing that she can walk again gives her a great feeling of accomplishment. Kaylor said that she has learned a lot from the entire experience but that she “didn’t need to walk again to be the person she was before.”