Lambert Defies Odds, Back on Beam

For Ashley Lambert, the hope is that her 2012 season in gymnastics will have a happier ending than 2011.

The level 10 gymnast with the World Class team was enjoying another successful season, with a state all-around title and regional crowns in the vault and floor exercises under her belt. A scholarship offer from a large Division I school in the SEC was on the table. Heading into May and one week before Junior Nationals, Lambert looked to have the world on a string.

In an instant, she almost lost it all.

Ashley Lambert's gymnastics
career almost ended abruptly
last year when she suffered
a broken neck.
Amazingly, she's back in
the sport.

Doing some less structured activity after practice one day, Lambert suffered a career-ending type of injury, one which left her with a C1 bone broken in two places as well as a broken C6 bone. To understand the seriousness of the injury, one only needs to know that 80 percent of individuals who break the C1 bone end up dead because the broken bone blocks the breathing passage which suffocates the victim. As a point of reference, actor Christopher Reeve became paralyzed after breaking his C1 bone when falling off his horse during an equestrian competition.

Amazingly, the Menchville junior was not aware of the seriousness of her condition and continued to practice. Mother Tonia came to pick her up, and as she recalls found her daughter “doing crunches and crying.” However, Ashley did not want to make World Class coaches Tami Harrison or Jon Angle aware of her pain. Later, at home, Tonia recalls spending 15 minutes trying to pop Ashley’s neck, thinking it was simply jammed. Looking back she now realizes, “I could have killed my child and didn’t even know it at the time.” But as soon as Ashley complained that her left eye had gone numb, the mother quickly knew what had occurred.

Says Tonia, “Right then, I knew it was neuro (related).” Four hours after leaving practice, the pair headed to the hospital emergency room.

After several hours in the waiting room, Tonia was approached by the doctor.

“He came to me and said, I have some good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?” Of course, she wanted to hear the good news first.

He said, “it is by the sheer grace of God that your kid is walking and talking. She only survived because of her sheer physical condition and her youth.”

Ashley recalls her time in the ER.

“They did an X-ray and didn’t really find anything specific. But when they looked at the results of the CAT scan, the doctors started freaking out.” She was quickly transported to Portsmouth Naval Hospital and fitted for a halo by the next morning.

For Lambert, the dream looked to be over. Gymnastics appeared to be a sport of the past, replaced by the halo to stabilize her neck and a lifetime of shattered dreams. Letters and get well wishes poured in from fellow gymnasts in every corner of the country. It was assumed that just getting Ashley back to normal activities would be the new goal.

But Ashley had larger aspirations. She missed not seeing her World Class teammates and friends at Menchville as she completed the school year with the homebound program. But after spending two-thirds of her 17 years in competitive gymnastics, Lambert was not ready to call it quits.

Recalls Tonia, “we had a conversation about it and she said, what else am I supposed to do?  I have been doing this my whole life.”

After almost two months in a halo, Ashley placed a video on her website, thanking her well-wishers. The most amazing feature of the 19-second clip was the bright smile displayed. The next day, the halo was removed.

Was there ever a concern about not competing again?

“Uh-huh.”  The biggest concern was that with junior year approaching, it was time to get back to the gym and make sure that she earned her athletic scholarship, her goal since beginning the sport at the age of six. The junior year of high school is usually the most crucial, particularly in gymnastics, as most of the scholarships for her class are awarded by the end of 11^th grade.

So it was time to go back to work.

After six grueling months of training, averaging 30 hours a week in the gym, the young lady who escaped a life-threatening injury returned to competition in January. In only her second competition, Lambert placed second in two events and qualified for the level 10 regional meet, which will be held on April 21-22 in Allentown, PA. But the larger goal is to qualify for Junior Nationals, which will be held from May 10-13 in Hampton, VA. At this point, Ashley feels as though she is “just getting back to where I was last year.”

Is there anything to be learned from this experience? In a closing thought, Tonia notes her daughter’s new found appreciation for gymnastics, one which can only be gained by almost losing the ability to continue at it.

“I think that she finds herself working much harder now. For a long time, a lot of this was very easy for her.”

For more information about Ashley Lambert, visit her website at http://www.gym-style.com/ashley