She suffered a spinal cord injury after a fall. Now, she plans to rappel off a 357-foot building in her wheelchair.

NORWOOD, Ohio – When Molly Schneider hiked the Appalachian Trail, people kept asking her why. Some hikers had profound answers about self-discovery, or talked about trying to change the narrative of their lives.

Schneider had nothing to say other than “I wanted to.”

She’s always been an adventurous person. Every year for her birthday, starting when she was a teenager, her father took her to West Virginia for a festival at what she calls one of the most dangerous rivers in the world.

In high school, she heard about the Appalachian Trail. As a junior, she made it her goal to complete the 2,000-mile hike from Georgia to Maine.

“Everyone else is planning careers, I’m planning hiking the Appalachian Trail,” she said.

So when she moved to Columbus in 2013 and took her first job after college, she told her bosses she would quit in a few years to hike the trail. They thought she was joking.

In 2017, the pictures she took on the trail were the kind you gawk at on Instagram. In one, she did a yoga pose on top of a cliff overlooking mountains. But another is of her muddy shoes. And another is of a hotel’s “no vacancy” sign.

Only about one in four people who attempt the hike finish it.

Schneider broke down during her journey. It was the mental part, she said, not the physical part. But she finished. It took almost six months. Even then, she didn’t truly appreciate what she accomplished. Maybe because she didn’t know exactly why she put herself through it.

Three years later, she knows why. It was to prepare her for this.

For struggling to text with her thumbs. For overheating because she can’t regulate her temperature anymore. For not being able to reach the top shelf. For crying more than she ever used to.

Schneider broke her neck on New Year’s Eve in 2018. She was sitting on a porch railing 3 feet in the air and lost her balance, falling off. She is now living with quadriplegia. She gets around in a wheelchair.

She is 28.

After her injury, she initially couldn’t sit up by herself. She couldn’t move her legs or use her right hand. Schneider was a strong, independent woman who craved adventure.

Suddenly, she needed help to get out of bed.

In physical therapy, she walked on treadmills with one person behind her, steadying her, and two people on the ground moving her feet. Her toes often dragged, and she was strapped into a stabilizing device that was placed above her. She wore a neck brace.

In one video taken by family, she told therapists to move her faster. In another, she lifted weights with two medicine balls keeping her legs together. In the videos documenting her recovery, her family can sometimes be heard teasing her.

"Come on grandma, walk faster."

She smiled.

Schneider eventually moved back in with her parents in Norwood. A year and a half later, she’s regained almost complete control of her right hand, but putting both arms out in front of her and maintaining her balance is still a challenge.

She can move her hips, and that’s how she works on walking at physical therapy now. Using a walker, with help from her therapists, she hikes her hips up to swing her legs forward.

She’s never been a crier, but she is now. If she sees mountains. If she makes a smoothie and drops it while trying to hold it in her lap.

“I’ve cried over spilled milk,” she said.

On Monday, in a park near her home, her sister offered to help her into the grass to pose for a picture. Schneider said no and rolled herself down a small incline. Her sister walked a few feet behind her anyway.

This is her life now.

On Friday, Schneider will rappel down a 357-foot tall building in Columbus. It’s part of a fundraiser to help victims of sex trafficking. Schneider rappelled down the building in 2016.

She didn’t think she would be able to rappel again. Officials with the event say no one in a wheelchair has done it before. Schneider will be the first.

This is her life now.

The 28-year-old believes she will walk again, but doctors can’t say for sure. She believes she will hike another trail someday. And when she does, she'll know why.

Follow Keith BieryGolick on Twitter: @KBieryGolick.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Molly Schneider: Wheelchair rappel down 357-foot building