‘I'M DOING THIS FOR MY MIRACLE BOY!'

Told she’d never walk again or become a mother, Kristy continues to amaze

- Lizzie Wilson

With gritty determination, and her trademark smile, champion Queensland jockey Kristy Banks is taking small steps towards a miraculous recovery.

The 39-year-old has always had a fierce, courageous streak. Just 10 months after her accident, wheelchair-bound Kristy was back in the saddle – strapped to it – and competing in barrel racing at rodeos in between her rehab sessions.

Now, she is teaching herself how to walk again.

Her bravery comes after doctors warned her that she would never walk again or fulfill her dream of motherhood after fracturing her spine in a horror race fall at Clifford Park racetrack in Toowoomba on New Year’s Eve, 2011.

Then along came her precious little boy Nash.

“Nash started school this year, and seeing the other mums and dads, I’m determined to one day walk him through the front gates,” brave Kristy promises.

“Doctors told me after the fall because I’m classified complete paraplegia – meaning my spinal cord is severed – the chances of falling pregnant and walking again were virtually zero.

HOPE & INSPIRATION