3 p.m., Dec. 2, 2009----While many university students begin to stand on their own two feet in college, this gaining of independence has taken on a new meaning to University of Delaware junior communication major Rachel Greene.

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Greene suffered a brain injury on Dec. 31, 2007, during a near- fatal car crash in her hometown of Damascus, Md., but has since come back to the University with her physical capabilities regained, and a new sense of determination.

“I had to relearn everything -- how to walk, how to eat, how to talk,” Greene said, “ I can't even describe how difficult a thing this is.”

When Greene first arrived at the hospital following the accident, her parents were told she probably wouldn't make it and she was given last rites. When she awoke from a coma after eight weeks, she was told she would be paralyzed on her entire right side. She proved everyone wrong.

By using the same determination and hard work that had become her trademark as one of the University's fastest sprinters on the swim team, she began to exceed expectations and regained movement of her right side.

“It wasn't just as if one day I had full range of motion. I would first work on wiggling my thumb, which took weeks, then bending my elbow, then raising my arm over my head,” she said.

Greene has been working since the accident to bring her physical abilities back to where they were. She works out at the gym, goes to physical therapy and continues to swim.

“Rachel has always been 110 percent of everything she gives,” her mother Kathy Greene said. “She loves swimming and she'd love to compete next year.”

After taking only one semester off from the University in the spring of 2008, Greene came back to school to both swim and continue to get good grades and work as hard as she had her entire college career.

But now, all of that success comes to her a little bit sweeter, said her father, John Greene.

“She was sort of one of those people who everything came to so naturally before, she always did so well in school and her athletics were so great, and now she does have to work a little bit harder at things,” he said. “But I think she does have a deeper appreciation of everything in life now.”

His daughter echoed that thought. “Looking back, it was such a humbling experience,” she said. “But, it is my dream to come back and compete -- even just one time for closure and to have knowledge that I was able to overcome this.”

Even with Greene's success and her ability to regain control and continue with the parts of her life like school and swimming, she has kept that determination.

“She is a remarkable young woman who has worked so hard to succeed at her communication classes and major,” said Elizabeth Perse, chairperson of the Department of Communication.

Kathy Greene said that Rachel is using her “second chance” to do everything she can to get better. “She's gotten so far, we were told all these things and every obstacle and every hurdle she's jumped over,” she said. “ We were told that this would be a marathon and she's determined to finish that marathon with the same drive she always has.”

When asked where the strength and determination during this process came from, the answer is easy. “I just refuse to settle for less,” Greene said.

Article by Erica Cohen