AFTIN, VA (WVIR) — An Ohio woman attempting to hike the nearly 2,200 mile Appalachian Trail is making her way through the Blue Ridge Mountains of central Virginia. It’s an incredible trek for someone who required a wheelchair to get around just months ago.

Stacey Kozel, who is from Medina, became paralyzed following a car crash that triggered the Lupus she’d battled since a teen.

“I walked into the hospital and within a couple days, I lost all mobility. I couldn’t move anything, I couldn’t breathe,” she said.

Two years after that hospital visit, Kozel started her hike in Georgia on March 24. The 41-year-old is three months into the long trek from Georgia to Maine.

“The people out here are amazing, besides for the scenery. It’s really the people that keep you motivated and push you through your day,” Kozel said.

She keeps motivated by the high tech C-Braces that help her take each step her of journey.

“There are sensors on the bottom of my feet that tell the computer how much tension I need at my knees,” Kozel stated.

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