In swimming every second counts. And as 13-year-old swimmer Virginia Summer can tell you, the same is true in life.

Not a typical headache

While Virginia doesn't remember much about what happened on Dec. 3, 2005, and in the weeks that followed, her parents, George and Karen Summer, will never forget.

Just before heading out for the annual Newberry Christmas Parade, Virginia complained of a headache.

“There was no way, shape or form that you could think this was a typical headache,” her father remembers.

Soon Virginia was screaming at the lightest touch or glimpse of light. George likened her behavior to that of an animal-a far cry from the humble, courteous girl that is her usual personality. The pain was excruciating, both for her and her parents.

Sitting together, a Bible lying on the table in front of them and family photographs smiling at them from all corners of the room, the Summers recalled what George calls the longest day of his life.

The family rushed to Palmetto Health Richland Hospital in Columbia. The car ride is the last thing Virginia can remember until a week later.

After a CT (computered axial tomography) scan and hours of waiting, doctors diagnosed Virginia as having Arteriovenous malformation, or AVM. It's a condition she was born with that affects the connections between her veins and arteries. Films of the AVM show a tangle of blood vessles, or something that resembles a tight cluster of rubber bands. Virginia's headache was the result of this cluster bleeding and applying pressure on her brain.

The diagnosis was further complicated by the fact that the AVM was deep in Virginia's brain stem-the part of the brain that controls involuntary muscles like the heart and lungs. So complicated, in fact, that the pediatric neurosurgeon in Columbia felt uncomfortable performing the surgery himself and sent Virginia by ambulance to the Medical University in Charleston.

Untangling the “rubber bands”

Virginia remembers being shown pictures of what would soon be her operating room at MUSC. This is her first memory since getting in the car a week prior.

Virginia said she wasn't scared or nervous, but just knew surgery wasn't a choice but a necessity. Her parents suspect this was because, despite strong sedatives, the pain was still extremely intense. But she never once complained.

Over the next few days, Virginia survived two very complicated surgeries-one to untangle the “ball of rubber bands” of AVM on her brain stem, and the second, to remove it. The family was told to prepare themselves for disabilities or even death.

After hours in the operating room, the surgeries proved successful.

“After signing all those documents and realizing all those implications, for a father to stand there and (the doctors) to ask her to wiggle her toes and she could do it, I lost it,” her father recalled happily.

Her mother Karen said after doctors knew Virginia would fully recover, her neurosurgeon admitted that “she shouldn't be here.”

Community support

Much of what happened in the month of December 2005 is a blur for the Summer family. But one thing none of them will forget is the outpouring of support they received from the Newberry community.

Hundreds of supporters packed the waiting room in Columbia, even before the family knew just how serious Virginia's condition was. And at MUSC, George said, “It was just overwhelming how many people had a Newberry connection.” Doctors, nurses, a law enforcement officer, cousins of other patients, all with ties to Newberry, stopped by to check on the “little Summer girl.”

At home, neighbors and friends stopped by frequently to check on Virginia's brother, who was 17 at the time and often living at home by himself while attending Newberry High School.

“In the most stressful hour of your life, you find out what your community means to you,” George said.

“She was on prayer lists and prayer chains all over the country,” Karen added.

Not surprisingly, Virginia's YMCA swim team was among her biggest supporters.

Always a swimmer

Virginia joined the YMCA Eels at age 8.

“She loves swimming,” said swimming coach Pam Lister. “She loves the challenge of it. She likes to work hard, to be pushed. She's pretty much that way in everything she does.”

Lister stood close by the Summer family through all the worry, the pain, the surgeries and the recovery. The day of her final surgery in Charleston, it was Lister and the family's pastor with them in the waiting room.

“It was very hard to see her like that,” Lister remembers of visiting Virginia in the hospital. “She is such an active young lady.”

So naturally, as soon as Virginia was ready, it was Lister who was there to put her back in the water.

Recovery

Doctors told the Summers that it was likely Virginia's physical fitness from swimming that allowed such a successful recovery.

She was moved to a regular room just two days before Christmas. Her parents stayed in the Ronald McDonald House next door to the hospital through the holidays.

“I'll never look at the Golden Arches the same way again,” George said.

The Summers remember the comradery in the Ronald McDonald House, and the generosity.

Civic groups brought Christmas gifts and filled baskets, and Virginia received about 20 DVDs on Christmas morning. The shelter was nearly free, and food was brought in regularly by volunteer organizations.

“It was the best Christmas I've ever had,” George said.

“It was the most significant,” added his wife.

Their daughter was now far from death's door and recovering quickly.

Virginia started therapy right after Christmas, and exceeded expectations. To be released from the hospital, doctors told Virginia she had to be able to walk up three steps on her own. She walked up the whole flight and was sent home New Year's Eve.

Jumping back in

It wasn't long after returning home that Virginia was ready to return to the pool. She missed swimming, she said, but was a little nervous she wouldn't remember her moves.

“The doctor told her at the time (swimming) was the thing that would help her the most,” Lister said. “She was in such good physical shape before it happened, it would help her recovery.”

Karen began bringing Virginia to the pool on her lunch breaks from homeschooling.

“I remember the first time she got in the water, I could see her whole countenance change,” Lister said, admitting that she was also nervous to put Virginia, 20 pounds lighter and still fragile, back in the pool. “I'd push her just a little bit and then I'd always ask her how she felt.”

As with everything up until that point, Virginia pushed on.

With tears in her eyes and her coach's eyes, she conquered her fear of the flip turn. Soon, she was able to dive again.

“Taking those steps was monumental for her,” Lister said.

After about a month of one-on-one practice, Virginia returned to regular swim practice.

Former Eels team member Hannah Goeckner, 18, remembers how set Virginia was to improve after rejoining the team.

“She's a determined person. She doesn't give up,” Goeckner said. “She would have to take it really easy. She couldn't push herself, but you could tell she wanted to.”

Virginia participated in her first swim meet that May and went on to earn the highest point in her age group at the state finals that July. Doctors said it would likely be a year after surgery before Virginia would be up to competing again. It took her five months.

“To be where she is right now is just a credit to her to set goals and to be able to achieve them,” Lister said.

She's now ranked in the top 20 in the state and is swimming as an eighth grader on the Newberry High School swim team. Lister said she expects Virginia to make the national cut.

“(Swimming) is what she wants to do,” Goeckner said. “She can probably swim in college because she's getting so good and she's so determined.”

The miracle of healing

Both of Virginia's parents say they never let it cross their minds that they might lose their only daughter. Faith played a huge part.

“Karen and I were so focused on taking care of our daughter, period, we never did realize,” George said.

Virginia was officially released from doctor care this July-the same month she swam the 100-yard freestyle in less than a minute.

“Now that it's been almost two years and the doctors tell me that she shouldn't have made it...She's a walking miracle,” Karen said.

“The miracle of healing is an underestimated miracle,” her husband added. “And there are a few angels out there along the way.”