Day 22 - Kimberly Ocampo

Kimberly Ocampo loves music, dancing and riding her bike but her life changed in an instant.

On July 19th, 2015, while she was on her daily bicycle route in Downtown Miami to Bayside a driver ran a red light and struck her.

“I saw the green light and I went for it. A car ran the red light and hit me,” she said.

Kim hit her head, suffered a stroke, and injured her spinal cord which left her paralyzed from her waist down.

She was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital where she spent several weeks. The tenacious dancer was determined to get out of her bed and into her wheelchair for the first time.

“My family was there and my two little sisters, they are the ones that give the strength to move forward, they look up to me,” she said.

This strong-willed dancer was not about to let her accident get in the way of her dream. With lots of hard work and dedication, she managed to participate in several events like the Wings For Life World Run. She has also mastered her moves on her chair, moving to California one year after her accident to join the Rollettes.

Kim, who moved to Miami from New Jersey to pursue her dance career, was planning to audition for the Heat Dancers before her accident. Her dream came true when she became an honorary Heat Dancer.

“Training has become so important, I look at it as a job. I get up every day at 6 a.m. and get here at 9 a.m. and am here all day,” she said.

With the help of her physical therapist Guy Romain and the others at Neurofit 360 in Pembroke Pines in just six months Kim beat the odds and did something the doctors thought she would never do – get back on her feet.

More about Kim:

https://www.instagram.com/kimocampo11/

https://www.facebook.com/thekimberlyocampostory/