In June 2011, a motorcycle accident near Cochrane left a young woman critically injured.
Michelle Salt spent seven days on life support and underwent numerous surgeries, including the amputation of her right leg.
Nearly a year after the crash, Salt has not let her amputation slow her down. She has returned to one of her favourite pastimes, snowboarding.
CTV Calgary met with Salt at Canada Olympic Park where her enthusiasm and love for the sport were on display.
"I think that I've just been given such an incredible opportunity and I need to run with it," says Salt. "I need to do something with."
Salt's actions have motivated those around her, including her coach Kevin Higgins.
"Michelle is just so excited about being on the snow every time she goes out," says Higgins. "It inspired me just to get out there with her."
Getting ready to hit the slopes is a much more complicated process for Salt than it used to be.
Nine months ago, Salt was involved in a near fatal motorcycle crash and spent a week on life support in an intensive care unit. She had three major surgeries and spent weeks recuperating in hospital and learning to walk.
No one but Michelle expected her to return to snowboarding.
Even her prosthetist, Tabor Melwood, who makes and fits artificial limbs for many people, admits there's something special about Michelle.
"No mater what obstacle, she's determined to overcome it," says Melwood. "It inspires me and helps me want to do better and challenges my work."
Salt isn't satisfied just to be riding her snowboard again. She has a goal of standing on the podium as a Paralympic athlete.
Salt's Paralympic aspirations were born in hospital.
"From the second I found out about my leg I needed a goal in order to keep myself sane," says Salt. "This is my goal and maybe it's a big goal, but I'm ready to get there and I'll do it."
For the way she's rebounded from a devastating loss and turned it into a gain, Michelle Salt is CTV's Inspiring Albertan.
