The Auburn gymnast who retired from the sport after suffering a gruesome leg injury during a floor routine last week has a goal of walking down the aisle with her fiancé.
Her fiancé, Trey Wood, posted an Instagram video of the athlete in her hospital bed.
He previously offered her a message of support after she dislocated her knees and tore ligaments in New Orleans. “So thankful for all the kind words and prayers from all our friends and family,” he wrote, reported
People magazine. “@sam_cerio is too tough and stubborn to keep down. #wardamnsam #stickit4sam.”
Meanwhile, her coach, Jeff Graba, told the
“Today” show that Cerio, 22, “wants to walk down the aisle and get married, and we’re hoping she can do that.” According to the report, she is getting married in two months.
Wood asked her to marry him in November 2018, she said
on Instagram. “This is going to be legendary,” she captioned the post.
“Sam’s surgery lasted two and a half hours and was an extreme success,” Graba
wrote on Twitter. We know the road for full healing is going to be a long and difficult one, but we are confident that she’ll be able to make a complete recovery.”
Days before that, she announced her retirement, writing on Instagram that Friday night is her last competition.
“After 18 years I am hanging up my grips and leaving the chalk behind. I couldn’t be prouder of the person that gymnastics has made me to become. It’s taught me hard work, humility, integrity, and dedication, just to name a few,” Cerio said.
“It’s given me challenges and roadblocks that I would have never imagined that has tested who I am as a person. It may not have ended the way I had planned, but nothing ever goes as planned,” she continued.
Additionally,
Graba said that Friday night was “one of the toughest nights of my life.”
“I told her that I loved her and that I was with her, and she said to go back and get the girls ready to finish this thing,” he said.
The
Auburn Tigers website says that Cerio has already accepted a job in Seattle, and she will work as a structural design analysis engineer at Boeing. In March,
she was named SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Recovering From a Broken Leg
According to
the NHS.uk website, it takes several months to recover from one broken leg, depending on the severity.
“It takes around 6 to 8 weeks for a minor fracture to heal. You’ll probably need to use crutches or a wheelchair during this time, until it’s possible to put weight on the leg again,” the website says.
But, it adds, “More severe fractures can take between 3 and 6 months to fully heal. Some can take even longer.”
