The cheerful bride walked down the aisle Saturday — seven
years after a brutal car crash severed her spinal cord.
After the 2006 accident, Stevie Beale, then 17, promised
herself that she would walk on her wedding day.
"It was pretty overwhelming when everything came
together," her husband Jared VanAusdale, 32, told the Daily News.
"All the emotions came crashing down at once… watching her achieve her
goals."
Beale of Toledo, Ohio, now 24, was injured the summer before
her senior year of high school when she was in a car with four other people.
One of her friends threw a water bottle out the window at another vehicle on
the road.
The mischief infuriated one driver who chased the teens for
about two miles at 90 miles per hour. Beale's best friend, who was at the
wheel, lost control and their car swerved into a tree.
The collision killed Beale's friend and left her paralyzed
from the waist down.
“I was pretty broken hearted from my accident and losing my
best friend,” she said.
Before the crash, Beale played softball and basketball,
taught gymnastics and exercised with her very athletic family.
The crash changed everything and Beale was not sure how it
would affect her love life.
"I wasn't in the position emotionally to get into a
relationship," she said.
But that changed when she heard about Bri Mulligan, a
16-year-old girl who was paralyzed by a high-speed train.
Beale went to visit Bri, who is the daughter of one
VanAusdale’s friend.
“Jared was there every waking moment he wasn't working
helping the young lady emotionally to get herself back together again,”
VanAusdale's mother said.
The future husband and wife met in Bri’s hospital room.
"I knew that he was someone special. We shared the same
values and hopes and dreams about our lives,” Beale said.
Texts led to dinner and movies, which led to a marriage
proposal.
"He gave me my confidence back and helped me come to
terms that this is the way it is and that I'm OK the way I am," she said.
"And coming from someone who is romantically interested in you and totally
accepting of you."
VanAusdale encouraged his fiance through the roadblocks and
hiccups of her grueling physical therapy sessions.
And finally, on the big day, she managed to head down the
aisle with the help of a walker.
Beale now speaks to high school students about making smart
decisions.
"I tell my story," she said. "The night of
the accident a lot of choices were made. I was just a passenger. I didn't throw
the water bottle but I’m the one sitting in a chair my entire life."
She hopes that these visits will spare other teenagers of
the hardships she faces.
Beale is also working on a master's degree in counseling at
the University of Toledo and intends to council people struggling with
traumatic experiences.
"Who better to council people who experienced that than
someone who experiences that on a daily basis?" Mary Lou said.
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