Reaching for no assistance

While most of her friends are in class on a sunny but brisk Friday morning, Edison High School senior Natalie Buchoz heads to the gym.

Project Walk, the spinal cord injury recovery center in Carlsbad, isn’t just another gym. But then again, Natalie isn’t just another teenager.

She was first mentioned in these pages more than two years ago, after suffering partial paralysis in a skiing accident at Bear Mountain on Dec. 29, 2007. She fractured her fifth and sixth cervical vertebrae, and her initial prognosis was unclear.

Weeks after the accident, there was hope because Natalie could move her big toe. Last April, there was hope because she took steps unassisted. Now, there is hope because she doesn’t need people to help her as she walks with a walker.

Her progress is noted on a big chalkboard inside Project Walk, which reads, “3/8 — Natalie took 230 steps with arm walker, unassisted.”

“My goal is to walk without any assistance, any walker or anything like that,” Natalie said. “We’re working on it. Balance is an issue, but you know, it’s a process and we’re on the right track. It’s only going to get better from here.”

No one who knows her would expect her to say anything different. That’s just her “Nattitude,” which is her slogan. It will also be the name of the book she plans to write about her experience.

The chapters keep coming. Earlier this year, Natalie returned to school, where she is a teacher’s aide for Edison softball Coach Kendra Rosales. About 10:20 a.m. every Tuesday and Thursday, she’s met in the front of the school by her best friend, senior Erika Longoria, and they head to class together.

“She has this way of lighting up people’s faces when they see her,” Longoria said. “She’s just been the most optimistic person I know about the whole situation. It really makes you believe it, too, because she knows she can. It seems like every time I see her, there’s something new she can do.”

Natalie plans to go to Edison’s prom Saturday, and her goal continues to be to walk across the stage to get her diploma at graduation in June.

At Project Walk, it’s also obvious how far she’s come. Her core balance has already improved, as has her endurance, and feeling has returned in much of her right side. On this Friday morning at Project Walk, where she comes three times a week, Natalie used her walker outside, then inside. Then it was on to a treadmill, which the trainers can elevate for a harder workout.

Natalie has been walking the treadmill for a long time, at first with the assistance of a harness. But she hasn’t needed it since December.

“It’s a long road; it takes time,” said Margarita Garalyte, who has been working with Natalie at Project Walk for about two years. “She’s here six hours a week. I don’t exercise that many hours a week. It’s a lot of hard work. ... But a lot of people think this place might be depressing, and I think it’s quite the opposite. I’ve never seen Natalie down.”

Natalie did squats while holding a heavy bar and worked her arm muscles with resistance bands. Eventually, it was on to an exercise bike to close out the two-hour session.

The family includes father, Tad, mother, Nancy and younger sister, Kendall, a sophomore who cheerleads at Edison. It remains strong; Kendall calls her older sister “my hero.” They are there to offer support, as Natalie continues the long road to recovery.

“It’s hard,” Nancy said. “We know we’re not paralyzed because we can walk. We’re sort of in a no-man’s land. We’re not quite all the way better, but we’re definitely not where we started out at. We’re a little bit in the middle; I guess that’s good.

“ ... I know one day we won’t have to come three days a week. Maybe two, then one, then none. Who knows, maybe she’ll work here [at Project Walk] one day.”

This optimism, this faith, carries mother and daughter through the day. After this session at Project Walk, it was on to In-N-Out Burger for lunch — don’t tell the trainers! — with Nancy, who also acts as her daughter’s caretaker. After all, for the vast majority of her day, Natalie is still in a wheelchair. It’s there she sits by the dugout at as many Edison softball games as she can, where the feisty ex-catcher keeps score and supports the Chargers. The Edison roster shows 16 players, but Rosales called Natalie the 17th Charger.

Two weeks ago, Natalie, a huge music fan, went to see Taylor Swift in concert. But earlier that day, she was at a familiar place — the Edison softball field — to watch her Chargers come from behind to top Marina, 5-4. In that game her friend, senior Jessica Reichner, had a walk-off RBI double — only after Natalie whispered advice to her in the on-deck circle.

Natalie knows most of the upperclassmen extremely well. She’s played softball with Reichner since they were 6, she said.

“She’ll research batters, research the other team and give me scouting reports in class every Tuesday and Thursday,” Rosales said. “She’s got a huge role; she’s so intense. That girl’s got heart. Heart, heart, heart.”

The community, particularly the South Huntington Beach softball league in which Natalie grew up, has organized numerous fundraisers over the past couple of years. She has EFX hologram bracelets with the “Nattitude” slogan that she is selling for $25 to help raise money for her therapy.

The second annual Natalie Buchoz Golf Tournament, organized by her grandparents, is set for May 10 and also will help, although Nancy said the family is realistically in a constant state of fundraising for the therapy. That’s the reality as Project Walk sessions, not covered by insurance, cost $200 each.

It’s a lot for a kid to think about, but Natalie has never been stronger. She’d like to study psychology in college.

“I’m really good at talking to people,” she said. “My friends come to me when they have problems. I don’t know, I think people feel like they can talk to me because of what I go through.”

Edison’s graduation is June 17 at Orange Coast College.

“I’ve always kind of been bubbly, I guess, smiley,” Natalie said. “But there’s really no other way to be. ... There are a lot of people who support me. Not only am I doing this for myself, but I don’t want to let all those people down out there, you know? I love to prove people wrong, outdo the odds, whatever you want to call it.

“I’m good at achieving my goals. I don’t give up easily. That’s just who I am, I guess.”

How To Help

The second annual Natalie Buchoz Golf Tournament is May 10 at David L. Baker Memorial Golf Course in Fountain Valley. Cost is $100 per individual or $300 per foursome. For more information, contact tournament director Jim Higgins at (714) 963-1662 or [email protected]. For other donations or updates on Natalie Buchoz, go to www.caringbridge.org/ visit/nataliebuchoz.