“Sometimes I dream that I am getting ready to do a jump. Or that I’m doing a flip.” It’s not hard to imagine

for years, Laís Souza jumped and flipped and flew as one of Brazil’s best gymnasts.

And in 2013, after competing in several Olympics as a gymnast, Souza began to train to compete as an arial skier for the 2014 Sochi games.

She’d never skied before, but the sport hooked her, and she trained furiously in intense, dangerous conditions.

Then, in an instant, everything changed.

Souza crashed when skiing, breaking her neck and suffering a dislocation between her third and fourth cervical vertebrae. She was instantly paralyzed from the neck down.