Joyce Stevens Celms begins the long road back

Once, she danced the night away and was crowned the 1967 Holbrook High prom queen.

Today, Joyce Stevens Celms, 62, lies in a bed in the spinal cord injury unit of Bostons Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, without movement in her legs or feet, following an accident in her Holbrook home.

At about 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 20, Celms caught the tip of her boot on the linoleum in her kitchen and fell onto the floor with such momentum that her neck hyper-extended and she suffered a spinal cord injury.

Celms sister, Nancy Stevens, did not hear her faint cries for help.

I was asleep upstairs and could not hear her barely audible cries for help, which she knew, Stevens said.

More than 10 hours later, Stevens discovered her sister stretched out on the floor, her eyes closed. Stevens cried out her sisters name.

Thank God, her right eye flew open and she tried to talk, Stevens said. She remarkably survived the night.

Celms was rushed to South Shore Hospital for emergency treatment, where doctors assessed the extent of the damage to her spinal cord and transferred her to Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston.

Upon arriving at Brigham and Womens, Celms was unable to feel or move below her chest bone. On Feb 23, doctors performed surgery on her cervical spine to relieve the pressure and correct ligament damage from the fall. The surgery was successful in relieving the pressure, and the waiting began. Celms progress is reported daily on her Caring Bridge website.

Now we all must wait to see if she will regain feeling, strength and movement, said Celms friend Nancy Freeman. On March 5, Joyce was transferred to Spaulding Rehabilitation Center, one of the best care facilities for spinal cord injuries in America, where she will spend eight weeks of intensive physical therapy.

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Joyce Stevens Celms begins the long road back