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copes through rehab Lying with her back on a mat in the TCU athletics weight room, she strains to roll over onto her stomach. Once there, she rests before trying to sit back on her knees. With her mother and a trainer spotting her, she moves into the position. She extends her left arm, then her right with a look of sheer determination on her face.
She’s on all fours. Now, the hard part. She moves her hips from left to right flexing her tender back and abdominal muscles that have been idle for about nine months. With her spotters ready, she moves back to her stomach on the mat. Then, she does it all again. At this time last year, Keith-Ann Wagner, a junior finance and accounting major, was leading her team on the soccer field and keeping the opponent from putting the ball into her goal. But a car accident last July 4 changed everything, leaving her paralyzed from the neck down. “I shouldn’t be doing this,” Wagner said. “I should be playing soccer and complaining about being sore.” Instead, she spends her days and nights teaching her body how to work again. All of her friends and relatives agree that she has made tremendous progress since the accident, but that doesn’t make each step any easier. “I just think that if I can take one step, I’ll be fine,” Wagner said. “Then I think if I can walk the length of the parallel bars, I’ll be fine. Then, if I could just get my halo taken off, I’ll be fine.” Struggling to recover doesn’t stop Wagner from enjoying life. She continues to attend school, taking nine hours this semester, and she spends a lot of time with her friends, who gladly do everything they can to ensure Wagner is with them. “The first night, we all went out after the accident, we had to carry Keith-Ann and her wheel chair upstairs,” said Ali Schloegel, a junior education major and teammate. “Somebody else might have been scared to let us do that, but Keith-Ann trusted us completely.” Wagner also continues to participate in activities she has enjoyed for the majority of her life — sports. She recently threw the honorary first pitch of the TCU baseball game at The Ballpark in Arlington. “She still does everything, and she never gives up,” said Leigh Hogan, a junior finance and accounting major. It
is this determination and fighting spirit in Wagner that inspires
her teammates, family and friends. “When you hear Keith-Ann’s voice on the field, it’s inspiring, and it makes you want to push yourself that much more.” Wagner’s voice has been heard on many fields throughout her life. She began playing soccer at age 6 in Corpus Christi. She continued playing when her family moved to Arlington. As she grew older, she played on successful club teams and on the Arlington Martin Senior High School team.
Her club team, the Texas Lightning, continually finished in the top four of the Lake Highland Girls Classic League, Division I. Her success continued throughout her high school soccer career. As a junior at Martin, Wagner joined her team at the UIL Class 5A State Championship tournament. Although they didn’t win the tournament, Wagner won a position on the All-State team. During her senior year, she and her team returned to the state tournament and won. Once again, she joined the ranks of the All-State team. In that same year, Wagner assisted her club team in a state championship. The following year, Wagner played on an amateur women’s under-20 team, North Texas United. The team went on to win the North Texas State Cup and the Regional Championship in 1999, which allowed them to represent North Texas at the national tournament in St. Louis. Graduating in the top 3 percent of her class, Wagner received a soccer-academic scholarship to TCU, and as a freshman, she was the starting goalie for the women’s team. Wagner has made numerous friends at TCU, on the soccer team and in her sorority, Chi Omega. Since the accident, her friends never miss a chance to show their support. At the first home game of the 2000 fall season, the team dedicated the season to Wagner. Now, the team and other friends and family are taking further action to support Wagner in her recovery. Shelia LaDuke, Wagner’s aunt, developed a fund raiser called the Hope Relay to provide payment for Wagner’s very expensive and very selective rehabilitation program, which insurance doesn’t cover. Through every step of her recovery, Wagner’s friends always admire her positive attitude and smile. “She is unbelievable,” Hogan said. “She accepts where she is and looks forward to the next day. I have never met anyone so optimistic or determined.” That determination shows as she approaches another day of rehabilitation. Erin
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