Stephanie Campbell about to scale new heights with Pride of Australia nomination

FOUR months ago she crashed to the earth in a sickening skydiving accident. Now she’s set to scale new heights.

LOOKING at Stephanie Campbell today, it is difficult to visualise the young woman laying in a hospital bed with nine broken vertebrae, unable to move.

Less than four months ago, the university student crashed to the earth in a sickening skydiving accident at Toogoolawah, north of Ipswich.

Now, in a remarkable milestone, the 24-year-old Miss World Australia state finalist – who declares she is not afraid of heights – will scale Brisbane’s Story Bridge to support the Centre for Health Brain Aging and Variety (Qld).

The inspirational woman will do this on July 13.

Stephanie Campbell will be climbing the Story Bridge to raise money for the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing. Pictures: Jack Tran / The Courier Mail

Ms Campbell has been nominated for the 2014 Pride of Australia medal in the category of Courage, which recognises those who have overcome personal adversity through determination and strength of character.

An experienced sky-diver, Ms Campbell was undertaking her 57th jump when she got caught in the cross-winds, her parachute collapsed and she fell rapidly to the ground.

“One minute I was in the air, the next, I was on the ground,” she recalls.

Sprawled on the ground, Ms Campbell remembers seeing “flashes of legs” and hearing yells as the others scrambled to help.

Two hours later she was loaded onto the CareFlight rescue chopper, bound for the Princess Alexandra hospital in Brisbane.

Stephanie Campbell after her accident in hospital.

Ms Campbell had fractured nine vertebrae, broken six ribs and her right wrist, punctured both lungs, and had serious concussion and swelling.

When she recently reconnected with the paramedic from the scene, he told her he thought she was going to die “a couple of times” on the chopper flight to the hospital.

“I never thought I was in that bad position, so that hit home a bit,” Ms Campbell said.

It was 10 days before she was allowed to leave the hospital – a month before she could walk outside.

“All of the doctors were amazed I was alive, that I wasn’t paralysed, and wouldn’t need surgery,” she said.

“So I really wanted to do something to acknowledge that and give back.”

Losing her grandmother and her grandmother’s mother to dementia galvanised her into learning more about the brain and gave her a push to become an advocate for dementia awareness.