Jenna Privette Has Feeling to Knees, Condition Improving

Jenna Privette, a Burnsville girl who suffered a serious spinal injury during a high school hockey game on Jan. 7, has regained feeling and movement in her thighs, according to a post on her Caringbridge site.

"Well, we finally have some success," her mother, Penny Rich-Privette wrote on Friday. "(Physical therapy) has been working so hard on her hips and her thigh muscles. We are so thrilled to see the excitement in her and from the therapists. Her Doctors gave her a high five."

Jenna has been at Gillette Children's Hospital in St. Paul doing her physical and occupational therapies. She hasn't gone back to classes at St. Croix Lutheran High School, but is working on her studies in her room at Gillette.

There's still no time table for Jenna's full recovery, which she is expected to make. From the outset, her doctors said she suffered something akin to a "concussion to her spine" in the hockey mishap, not a severed spinal cord.

"I'm a fighter. I don't give up," Jenna told the Pioneer Press a couple weeks ago. "If you saw me in physical therapy, I was in a lot of pain, but I didn't give up on it. I pushed myself, and people have to hold me back."

Want to help?

A special bracelet with the message “Jenna #23; In our hearts” is for sale for $5 each with proceeds to help with Jenna’s medical expenses. They are available at St. Croix Lutheran High School.

In addition, an account has been set up and donations can be sent to “Jenna Privette Fund” at the Anchor Bank, located at 66 East Thompson, West St. Paul, MN, 55118. Donations can be dropped off at any Anchor Bank location or at St. Croix Lutheran High School.

Burnsville Patch will follow this story.