CLEVELAND — At All Heart CrossFit gym in Kent, you'll often find 30-year-old Cleveland police detective Ashley Schut.
It's where she stays focused several days a week on getting stronger. With every grueling motion of her rowing, lifting, and squatting, she counts her blessings. That's because just a few months ago, she almost didn't make it there.
"I remember flying around beforehand. I remember ... I remember being in the air," Ashley said.
While vacationing in Utah last October, Ashley and her husband, Gabe, went paragliding. Ashley went up first, tandem, with her instructor, Josh Ellison. The two then collided with a hanglider, who wasn't seriously hurt. Tragically, Josh was killed.
"I don't remember getting to the hospital. My next memory is just waking up after the first surgery," Ashley said.
She was critically hurt.
"I fractured a couple of the vertebrae and then it was also, my spine was shifted," she said. "I broke my pelvis in five places. I broke the main hip bone on the right side, pretty drastically. And then, my pelvis completely split in the front."
Only, she didn't find that out until after she woke up.
"I just remember, I didn't know what happened. I had no idea what my injuries were, what surgery I had or was going to need to have. And I was like, 'Where's my husband?'" Ashley said.
Gabe was right by her side.
"I told her, I was like, 'No matter what care you need, no matter how this changes our life, we're in it together,'" Gabe said.
Together, is how they would stay for the next month, finding support, thousands of miles a way from home.
"The law enforcement out in Utah was just so incredibly helpful. Anything that we needed, they were there," Ashley said.
As Ashley recovered and endured multiple surgeries, her colleagues in Cleveland were getting ready for her to come.
"Everything from a meal train ... they helped even build a ramp at our house," Gabe said.
Then, a gracious gift to Ashley from Jet ICU, who donated a $50,000 flight, so she could come home safely.
On the tarmac at Akron Fulton Airport, were Ashley's loved ones, colleagues, and law enforcement from all over Northeast Ohio.
"To be able to come home and have that support in person again was just huge," she said.
Her heart is huge, too. It's on display every day as she continues to fight for her recovery.
"I didn't really have a choice. You just kind of have to keep pushing through, keep improving and working hard on physical therapy," Ashley said.
"We often have seen or you hear about miraculous recoveries from people, and I'm like, you rarely think that you're gonna be the one to live it," Gabe said.
Yet, this is now a part of Ashey's story. She's living for each day, with the most precious blessing.
"We did get to meet Josh's wife before we left Utah, and she was really relieved to know that I was gonna get better and that I was gonna make a full recovery. She told me that that's exactly what Josh would want," Ashley said. "We are just completely overwhelmed with gratitude for how generous people have been just financially and with their time and the meals that they've provided. We've had so many people saying that they're praying for us. I think that that above all has been the greatest help that they could give."
Love. Honor. Sacrifice. Virtues, this grateful hero will pay forward as she works to return to the job she was made for, backed by her brothers and sisters in blue.
"I love being able to help people. I think that's the most practical thing that I enjoy about the job. I love being able to piece things together and to be able to solve crimes just to try to make Cleveland safer," Ashley said.
Though there is no exact timeline of when she'll return to work, she hopes it is very soon.
MORE FROM WKYC:
