Stay Strong Lais Souza

Lais Souza is an Olympic gymnast from Brazil who had hopes of becoming Brazil's first attendee at the Winter Olympics in freestyle skiing. She was injured in an accident on January 27th dislocating a part of her cervical spine and damaging the nerves to her diaphragm. Souza is awake and is able to nod to respond to questions but is on a ventilator to assist in breathing. At the latest reports, "Souza underwent surgery to realign her spine and can now move her shoulders and two more operations are scheduled." (source).

Lais Souza attended both the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. She helped Brazil to a 9th place finish in 2004 and helped them to make the team finals in 2008. Souza competed on vault and unenven bars as the Brazilian team finished 8th in the final.




Our thoughts and prayers are with Lais Souza and her loved ones.

(source)