One minute Marina Theron was a 15-year-old teenager living life to the full; the next everything went black and her life changed forever.
What started as a bit of fun with a school friend took a tragic turn the moment Theron dived into the pool at Palmerston North's Lido Aquatic Centre.
Hitting her head on the bottom, the plunge broke her neck and crushed her spinal cord. It left Theron a tetraplegic and paralysed from the neck down.
"I dived a bit too deep," she says. "Instantly it all went black; not black because I had passed out but black because in a split-second my body had been switched off and I couldn't feel or move anything below the neck."
Today, more than four years later the now 20-year-old Theron remains wheelchair bound and her sense of touch is, at best, "patchy".
"Yes, I have some feeling," she says. "If you touched my foot I would know and although over time certain aspects of feeling have come back for me, I still can't feel half of my legs and parts of my hands."
Theron's story came to light when she was named as the recipient of this week's ASB Good as Gold award. ASB has gifted her $10,000 to enable her to travel overseas for another round of specialist treatment.
"Marina's positive spirit, courage and determination to recover made her a perfect ASB Good as Gold winner," says ASB's GM of corporate communications, Christian May. "We also think it's pretty special that Marina's inspirational blog (tofindmyfeet.com) means she is using her experience to help others too."
Theron remembers only too well the day of her accident – December 9, 2013.
"My friend and I spent most of the morning swimming, giggling, eating, things typical teenage girls do. After having lunch we headed over to the pool," she says.
"It was such a calm, sunny day, yet, when I think back to the moment before I dived in standing above the clear blue water, shivers run down my spine."
The moment Theron hit her head, her friend realised something was wrong. Her friend moved quickly to turn her on to her back so she could breathe, an action Theron says saved her life.
Pool lifeguards immediately came to their assistance and Theron was flown to Christchurch Hospital for surgery the next day at the Burwood Spinal Unit. In intensive care for three days, she spent the next nine months in hospital.
"It was obviously a big thing," she says. "I didn't understand how serious it was, it was only a few months later that I realised. When I left hospital I was quite scared because I'd had lots of people to help me."
Theron has been to Project Walk Spinal Cord Injury Recovery Centres in Australia and the United States for specialist treatment. These trips have cost thousands of dollars - the four weeks she spent in San Diego alone amounting to about $20,000 – and Theron says she intends to use the $10,000 awarded by the ASB on another round of therapy in Australia.
She is making progress: not only does she have some feeling back but she is able to take a few steps with the aid of a walking frame and says her long term goal is to walk freely again.
In the meantime Theron refuses to get down about her predicament. "I enjoy doing the little things even though they are much harder for me now; I think life is not about how it is, it's about how you look at it.
"I used to play hockey and netball and I was into cheerleading," she says. "I miss doing all of those; there are so many things that frustrate me about my body and having to rely on people all the time.
"But I'm still incredibly blessed and I don't want to lose sight of that. I may not be able to go places on my own, but I am not stuck in a hospital bed; I may have missed out on finishing high school, but I have met some incredible people along the way."
Born in South Africa, Theron moved to New Zealand at the age of 10 with her parents Koos and Agnita, and a brother and sister. Now studying at Massey University (where she also has daily therapy sessions), Theron is keen to build a career helping the rehabilitation of others facing similar circumstances to hers.
It was her brother Jacobus who nominated her for the ASB award.
"Initially the doctors told her she would never be able to use her legs again, but now she can walk a few steps with the aid of crutches or walking frame. She has shown huge improvements but there is still a long way to go and I have tremendous respect and admiration for her.
"I would also like to commend my parents on the way they help her through everything; I can see the toll it takes on them."
"She is an amazing young woman," he says. "She always gives 110 per cent and she stays so positive among the hard circumstances, she has inspired a lot of people, me included."