EDUCATION Accident gave teacher patience

Shelly White has written a book that tells her story.
LEBANON, Pa. (AP) -- Shelly White says the accident that left her paralyzed has made her a better teacher.
Now, when her learning-support pupils at Ebenezer Elementary School struggle with math or reading, she has more patience, she said, because she knows how difficult it can be to overcome hardships.
"I have learned to celebrate smaller steps," she said.
To help children understand spinal cord injuries, White has written a book called "New Opportunities" which tells her story through a character named Spiney the Porcupine. The book, illustrated by Lebanon artist Dot Perez, was published last month by Trafford Publishing and should be available soon on Amazon.com.
Spiney's story, like White's, starts with a flight in a powered parachute. The 400-pound aircraft resembles a three-wheeled go-cart with a big fan mounted on the back and a parachute trailing behind.
What happened
White was a passenger in a powered parachute in September 2001, when the wind caught the aircraft a few feet off the ground and flipped it into a Heidelberg Township cornfield. White broke her neck. The pilot was not injured.
White spent 85 days in the hospital. She has no use of her legs and limited use of her arms. Like Spiney, she had to learn new ways to write, dial a phone and brush her teeth. This year, she returned to the Cornwall-Lebanon School District to teach learning-support classes of fourth- and fifth-graders.
The pupils love to help her, classroom teaching assistant Cindy Klahr said. They get her sodas, erase the board, open the door and do other seemingly simple tasks that are difficult for White.
"The kids love her," Klahr said. "She has a lot of patience. I had a son like this, and he didn't get the help these kids get."
D'Kota Wolf, 10, said White is the best math teacher he's had. He has gone from being able to complete only four problems on a timed math test to finishing 40 or more in the minute allowed.
Bremen Halsell, 10, said he helps White set up PowerPoint presentations and move papers around.
Meeting goals
Meanwhile, White has helped him meet his goals.
"I used to have an F in math, then I got a C, then a B, and now I have an A," he said.
Returning to work has been more difficult than White imagined. It takes her two hours to get dressed in the morning, even with an assistant. She must make sure her paperwork is organized so she can reach it. She is dependent on others, so when they violate her trust, it is much harder for her.
But her injury also has presented new opportunities, she said, such as writing the book and reaching out to pupils.
"It's something I always wanted to do," she said.
White's classroom is covered with inspirational messages: "You can do it," "I can because I think I can," and "When you believe in yourself, anything is possible."
Sometimes the children ask her, "When will you be done being paralyzed?"
She is not sure how to answer. She remains convinced that recovery is possible, perhaps if stem-cell research leads to discoveries. She said she needs a little hope "tucked away somewhere" to get through her days.
She tells her pupils, "When you grow up, you become one of those doctors or scientists, and you can fix me."