An "outgoing and beautiful" freestyle rider has been paralysed from the ribs down after she fell from her motorbike during a training accident.
Christina Vithoulkas mistimed a jump at Barmera in the South Australian Riverland region on Saturday, severing her spinal cord and leaving her unable to ever walk again.
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Her family has rallied to her bedside at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. The 23-year-old suffered serious injuries, including a lacerated spleen, punctured lugs, broken ribs and shattered her T5 and T6 vertebrae.
Her fiancé James Wild told 9 News she is determined to get through the tough times ahead as she comes to terms with her injuries.
He said when Ms Vithoulkas came off her bike, he feared the worst when she wasn't responding to him.
"I was screaming at her to wake up. She was unconscious for a while," he recounted.
"She wasn't alert and to watch everything that unfolded was just horrific. It's a massive scar that's going to be in my brain for the rest of my life."
The pair got engaged last month after Mr Wild popped the question at his 25th birthday.
Ms Vithoulkas and Mr Wild met on the freestyle riding circuit three years ago. He said he will now give up the sport and sell his bikes to look after his fiancée.
"At the end of the day, Christina is my world and she is what means the most to me in my life," he said.
"We could have lost her. At the end of the day we still have each other and that's what matters."
A GoFundMe page has been set up to raise money for Ms Vithoulkas' medical costs.
Newshub.
