Paralyzed Pacific Grove woman pens novel based on life

Chelsie Hill is nearly a household name around the Monterey Peninsula; not because of the tragic accident she was in several years ago, but because of what she’s done afterward to create change and affect lives.

Hill was paralyzed in a drunk driving crash four years ago on Holman Highway between Monterey and Pacific Grove as a high school senior. She was being driven home by a friend who had been drinking. Their SUV veered off the road and crashed into a tree, snapping Chelsie’s back and paralyzing her from the waist down.

Since then, she hasn’t slowed down. With her father, she went on to establish a nonprofit foundation, The Walk and Roll Foundation, to aid people with spinal cord injuries. Hill was also on the Sundance Channel reality show, “Push Girls.”

Her latest venture is a spin-off of that show; a fiction-based novel coming out June 3rd. Hill is holding a book signing at BookWorks in Pacific Grove at 6 p.m. She said she is holding the event in her hometown because of all the support she’s received over the years.

PUSH GIRL: A Novel looks at how life can change in an instant. Hill wrote it with Jessica Love, a high school teacher. It’s based on her own real life experience.

PUSH GIRL begins with Kara as a high school junior who is loving life. She’s popular, has a great group of friends and an amazing boyfriend, and she’s a shoe-in for homecoming queen. She won’t let anything get in the way of her perfect year. When Kara arrives at a party and sees another girl with her hands all over her boyfriend, she leaves, furious, to take a drive.

The next thing she knows, Kara wakes up in the hospital with no memory of the night before. Where is she? Why are her parents crying? And, most importantly-why can’t she feel her legs? As Kara is forced to adjust to her new life, she starts to realize that what matters in life isn’t what happens to you-it’s the choices you make and the people you love.