Ever since Nicole Richards was a little girl, she dreamed of being an Olympic gymnast. The application of that dream started when she was just two years old. Her parents enrolled her in pre‑school tumbling classes, and her gymnastics career took off.
As Nicole got older, she began competing at the state, regional and national levels. She trained four to five days a week and won many state and regional USA Gymnastics and IHSAA titles. During Nicole’s junior year of high school at Perry Meridian, she decided she wanted to pursue a collegiate gymnastics career. She wanted to stay close to home, so Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. was her choice.
On the fateful day of February 18, 2000, Nicole and two of her friends and current teammates, took a trip to Ball State to meet with the coaches and be introduced to the gymnasts for the first time. Her dreams started to really materialize while watching them perform. She knew that next fall, her training with them would begin. However, on the way home, the car she was in the back seat of was involved in a 22‑car pile‑up resulting from a brutal winter conditions and black ice. She was life‑lined to the IU Med Center and immediately went into emergency surgery to fuse her vertebrae. She sustained a C‑6/7 complete spinal cord injury. She was paralyzed from the chest down and would spend every day in a power wheelchair.
A rush of support came from friends and family in the days and months after the accident. After months of grueling rehab in Chicago, she finished her senior year of high school and started at IUPUI in the fall. Despite her dream of a gymnastics career at BSU, she still wanted to attend classes there. Her dream wasn’t just about her athletic endeavors; education and scholastic achievement were important as well. In the fall of 2001, she transferred from IUPUI to BSU. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Telecommunications within four and half years, despite the many obstacles facing her.
After graduation, she moved back home to Indianapolis and got reacquainted with life at home with her mom and siblings. Nicole isn’t the type to stay idle long – within a year she got a full time job as a human resource specialist with the Defense Finance and Accounting Service for the Department of Defense. She works 40 hours a week; judges gymnastics meets, attends all of her siblings’ athletic events and is actively involved with her friends lives. She puts on fundraisers and speaks to youth groups in the community. She advocates for spinal cord research and strives to find a cure for all spinal cord injuries.
Nicole’s dilemma was that she was ready to be on her own but couldn’t because of her living situation. She yearned for independence but couldn’t afford to do it on her own. Her make‑shift bedroom and bathroom that her grandpa added on barely provided enough space, and her wheelchair couldn’t fit through the family room or kitchen. She came so far and did so much for everyone – we wanted to do something for her in return.
On August 13th, 2006, Samantha’s House and the community presented Nicole with her own new customized accessible home. This home featured a therapy room, a motorized lift to take her from her bed to her shower, voice activated doors and customized kitchen with lowered counters and appliances.
Nicole continues to live in this home with her two dogs, Karolyi and Wilson. A breast cancer diagnosis in 2013 slowed her down just a bit, but after many surgeries and chemotherapy and radiation treatments, she is in full remission and now a cancer survivor. The Samantha’s House home provided her the comfort and accessibility that she couldn’t have done without during her illness. Nicole is very grateful to the foundation and all of its donors for giving her the home of her dreams, and she enjoys volunteering time to Samantha’s House so that other children and families can experience the same joy.