Crimson Red Sports

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- The miracle that is Chelsea Thrash can be summed up in three words: she walked today.

As she slowly made her way into her 8 a.m. biology class at the University of Alabama – the curious eyes of dozens of other students watching her – the nightmare chapter of her life that began April 27 finally began to close. It was a start. It was a new beginning and, as she says she wanted a little piece of "normal."

Thrown 150 feet out of her boyfriend's apartment during the F-4 tornado that ravaged Tuscaloosa, Thrash's first step into class today was the first of many steps on the path to recovery she has already taken. First at DCH, then at UAB, then Spain Rehabilitation Center in Birmingham, where she still goes several times a week.

Surrounded by friends, Thrash took a seat in the front row of General Ecology, in an auditorium with 194 other students. Afterward, relief seemed to be the word of the day.

"Class was great," Thrash said. "It felt so good to be back and with my friends. I can't wait for what this year has to bring."

 When she woke up immediately after the storm, her back was broken and she could not feel her legs, yet she remained conscious. Then she screamed for help. Her spine had been pushed to one side, twisted, just like everything the tornado left in its wake. Walking, or any sense of normal, were a faraway dream. Today that dream happened, as much for the hundreds of other storm survivors as for her.