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SALT LAKE CITY — A Brazilian skier expected to compete in the Olympics in February was severely injured in Park City on Monday — now she is just hoping she will walk again.
The 25-year-old Lais Souza crashed while skiing and injured her spine. Souza's Brazilian team doctor, Antonio Marttos, said Souza was expected to compete in freestyle skiing during the Olympics next month, but that's now not going to happen.
Marttos said that she was just skiing for fun when she hit the tree.
“She was not doing training, not anything related to the Olympics. She was just free skiing. Just something that happened. You have thousands of people skiing every day down hills, and it just happened,” Marttos said.
Doctors are saying she has no feeling in her arms and legs and can't move, talk or breathe on her own. They won't say she's permanently paralyzed at this point, but they admit it's a possibility.
Dr. Andrew Dailey, a neurosurgeon with the University of Utah Health Care, said that Souza's injuries are so severe it could be months maybe even years to recover, if she recovers at all.
"The diagnosis we made was she had a complete dislocation of the third cervical vertebrae on the fourth cervical vertebrae. That's at the top of the cervical spine,” Dailey said. “Our goal was to try and realign her spine.”
Doctors did a tracheotomy to help Souza breathe. But she’s aware of what’s happening and is reportedly in good spirits.
A special computer screen device is being put in Souza’s room so she can communicate with them by using her eyes and blinking.
Souza was formerly one of the best gymnasts in the world. She competed in the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics before she made the move to skiing.
