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Gyms around Iowa are full of people working to stay in shape. But if you look around - you'll also see powerful moments unfolding in the room. Like here at One with Life in Ankeny - where one teenager is making life- changing ástepsá. <LET'S SEE IF WE CAN DO TEN OF THEM.> Squats in the gym - can make even the strongest legs feel shakey. <GOOD! NICE!> But for Jaya Fever - that trembling is a welcome feeling. <YOU GOT FIVE MORE! > Because one year ago - she couldn't even move. A car crash on December 9th, 2022 - shattered everything. When the high school senior on her way to school on a foggy morning - hit a utility pole. <IT'S JUST THE STORY YOU DIDN'T THINK YOU WERE GOING TO BE LIVING, AND THAT'S THE STORY OF TRAGEDY.> A traumatic brain injury, a coma and the darkest days followed. Once an artist with big dreams - 18-year-old Jaya now suddenly faced the possibility of never being able to use her hands again. <IT'S HARD BECAUSE YOU ARE GRIEVING THE DAUGHTER THAT WAS AND THE HOPES AND DREAMS YOU HAD. WE THOUGHT SHE WOULD BE AT COLLEGE.> <THAT'S ONE OF THE HARDEST PARTS IS LEARNING TO LET GO OF WHAT YOU WERE HOLDING ON TO, AND YOU DON'T REALIZE WHAT YOU WERE HOLDING ON TO UNTIL YOU HAVE TO LET GO OF IT.> But with letting go - came new beginnings. Pivotal moments that rewrote Jaya's story. Like when she "stood" for the first time - 3 weeks after the accident. <READY ONE, TWO THREE. PICK UP...PUSH. GOOD JOB JAYA....> Still in a coma state - Jaya's parents describe áthisá moment as their first sign of hope. <THAT A GIRL LIFT YOUR HEAD. YOU LOOK SO GOOD. HOLD AND PUSH. PUSH. YOU'RE STANDING. YOU LOOK SO GOOD. ALL THE WAY. UP TALL. UP TALL. CAN YOU TRY TO PULL UP TALL. BRING YOUR EYES UP TO ME. JAYA LOOK AT ME OVER HERE. JAYA. JAYA THAT'S AWESOME. LOOKING SO GOOD!> And hope kept growing from there. Jaya spent months at Shirley Ryan in Chicago - learning to touch, move and walk again. <AT FIRST I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON SO I FELT LIKE I WAS IN A DREAM. I DIDN'T KNOW WHY I COULDN'T DO ALL OF THESE THINGS THAT I SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DO.> It took months for Jaya's brain to comprehend the trauma it endured. She says she often felt like a prisoner in her own body. <EVERYONE MY AGE AND EVEN YOUNGER THAN ME WILL BE IN COLLEGE OR GRADUATED AND I DON'T WANT TO BE, I KIND OF FEEL LIKE I AM BEING LEFT BEHIND EVEN THOUGH I AM NOT.> Determined not to be left behind - Jaya set a goal to walk at her high school graduation in Adair. And with hundreds watching and a cane in hand - she took those monumental steps about 6 months after the crash. <NATS OF THE ROOM STANDING AND APPLAUDING HER> <BECAUSE SHE WAS FOCUSING SO HARD ON EVERY STEP SHE WAS TAKING, TRYING NOT TO TRIP, GETTING UP THE STAGE - SHE DIDN'T KNOW THAT SHE GOT A STANDING OVATION. SHE SAW EVERYBODY SIT DOWN ONCE SHE CAME DOWN THE STAGE AND SHE SAID WHY DID EVERYBODY SIT DOWN FOR ME? AND I'M LIKE JAYA EVERYBODY STOOD FOR YOU! YOU GOT A STANDING OVATION! IT WAS AMAZING!.> Inch by inch, day by day ... Jaya continues to get stronger - with the help of her therapists at On with Life in Ankeny. <WHEN SHE CAME IN, THE WALK TEST WE DID, SHE COULD ONLY DO LIKE 600 FEET, AND WE JUST REDID THAT A FEW WEEKS AGO AND SHE COULD DO 15- HUNDRED FEET IN THE SAME AMOUNT OF TIME. SO SHE HAS DOUBLED THE DISTANCE. NOT ON THE CANE ANYMORE!> Jaya still has double vision from the brain injury - which hinders her balance. Despite this - she keeps going. <REALLY SINK INTO THOSE HEALS. GOOD. (JAYA) IT'S LIKE I HAVE TO GET USED TO IT BECAUSE I WAS LIKE OK I HAVE TO LIKE BE ON MY TOES. (MIRANDA) YEAH YOU HAVE TO SWITCH YOUR MECHANICS UP!> Three days a week - she is in the gym. <SHE HAS WORKED SO INCREDIBLY HARD. EVERYDAY. AND EVERYDAY IS HARD. LIKE EVERY STEP SHE TAKES IT HARD. SHE HAS TO THINK ABOUT WHERE SHE PLACES HER FOOT. I MEAN EVERY SINGLE STEP SHE TAKES IT HARD.> <NOBODY CAME MAKE YOUR PROGRESS, YOUR STEPS FOR YOU, YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO BE WILLING AND BE MOTIVATED ENOUGH TO DO IT YOURSELF.> Jaya now hopes to be a therapist one day - working with patients with traumatic brain injuries. Showing them - she is walking proof - that small steps make the biggest difference