<p>Unlike the sport in which Nicole Richards once excelled, point totals aren’t awarded for how she lives her life.</p><p>More often than not, the Greenwood resident warrants a perfect 10.</p><p>Richards, 38, a former Perry Meridian gymnast who has been a quadriplegic since 2000 and is also a breast cancer survivor, isn’t one to hide beneath the blanket of self-pity.</p><p>Gymnastics taught Richards to learn from previous experiences, not forever be defined by them.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p>“Maybe more toward the beginning, it was tougher on me. I was still in high school and was probably more down then,” Richards said. “But it’s a blessing that I’m still alive. I was just kind of ready to move on.</p><p>“There’s no sense in being upset when I’m so loved by so many. Things could be a lot worse.”</p><p>On Feb. 18, 2000, less than five months before her 18th birthday, Richards was riding home from a gymnastics meet at Ball State with two friends, gymnasts at Lawrence Central and Southport, when fate intervened.</p><p>Richards, who had committed to join the Ball State gymnastics team that fall, was riding in the back seat of the vehicle, which became part of a 20-car pileup on snow-covered state road 332 out of Muncie.</p><p>The car Richards rode in was in the middle of the mayhem when T-boned by another vehicle, the impact breaking her C6 and C7 vertebrae.</p><p>She was wearing a seat belt.</p><p>“I don’t remember much,” Richards said. “I remember seeing brake lights in front of us and later waking up and saying my back hurt. After that, I don’t remember anything until I woke up in the emergency room at Ball Memorial (Hospital).”</p><p>Some of the others drivers and passengers involved in the accident sustained minor injuries; Richards was the only one seriously hurt.</p><p>Richards didn’t return to Perry Meridian until May, making it back in time to attend prom (she was named queen) and go through commencement exercises.</p><p>The hallways she once walked were being navigated with the use of a wheelchair. Quite a departure for someone who was 2 when she started the tumbling classes that led to her becoming a gymnast skilled and driven enough to qualify for the state finals as a sophomore and junior.</p><p>Richards took a year off following high school, but did eventually attend Ball State. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 2004 and has since worked as a human recourses specialist for The Defense Finance and Accounting Service in Indianapolis.</p><p>In late 2013, Richards was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer that had spread to her lymph nodes. She had a total mastectomy on her left breast and will be cancer-free six years this November.</p><p>“After I found out, I was upset and a little bit angry,” she said. “But I was ready to heal up and move on. I think it’s that attitude of never giving up that I learned in gymnastics.”</p><p>Jarret Heaston, who has dated Richards for almost two years after the two met online, admires the strength and positivity she demonstrates every day. He’s seen how she takes 12 different medications daily, from Prolia to strengthen her bones to Baclofen, which helps relax her muscles, to Tamoxifen, which lessens the chance of the cancer returning.</p><p>Richards still undergoes chemotherapy once a year.</p><p>Last month, Heaston started a GoFundMe page in Richards’ name, the objective being to raise enough money to purchase her a new electric power chair and van. Richards has been using the same power chair the past 10 years, approximately twice as long as quadriplegics usually have them before seeking an upgrade.</p><p>Heaston knows Richards would never request these things herself.</p><p>“Nicole is always smiling, even when things get tough. And they get tough. It just lets you know she’s able to overcome anything,” Heaston said. “She is probably the kindest, most generous person I’ve ever known. She’ll do all for you before she’ll do for herself.”</p>
