On Her Mind: Tulsa woman with spinal condition shares story of hope

A Tulsa woman born with a spinal condition is sharing her message with thousands.

Christina Law has seen more than her share of tragedy.

"I have been through a lot of darkness in my life, but I want people to know, even if they go through their own darkness they can deal with their own darkness and they can find hope behind it," Christina said.

Christina was born with spina bifida. She was independent and living in her own apartment, walking with a crutch, until her 33rd surgery to remove scar tissue around her spinal cord paralyzed her below her hips.

Paralyzed at 32, Christina moved into a nursing home.

"I needed help, more than what my family could do for me," Christina said. "It was difficult."

But, inside a local nursing home, Christina found her love. She met the man who would become her husband.

Nate had type one diabetes and kidney disease. The two spent three years together before Christina suffered another tragedy when Nate passed away in 2019.

"It was very hard. I went through darkness," Christina said. "It was during Covid that I was faced with being locked in and so I was kind of forced to face everything that I had been through up to that point."

Christina started writing.

"Therapeutic, cathartic, you know it helps me to go back and visit those tragedies that have happened and try to pick out the good things out of it," Christina said.

Christina self-published "Blessings From Within The Dark" earlier this year.

"I just want people to take away hope from the book," Christina said.

She's holding signings and promoting the book on her TikTok page, which now has about 7,000 followers.

"It's like having a thousand best friends you know, and you get to go and live your life vicariously through them, but they also get to live their life through your life," Christina said.

She shares what it's like to lose independence as a young person and live in a nursing home with an elderly roommate.

"It's difficult because she is in her 80s and I'm in my 40s, so you know she doesn't understand why I want to get on TikTok at 8 p.m.," Christina said. "I do talk a lot about nursing home reform and how we need to change the ways in which we do nursing homes."

She said staff is being asked to do more with less, and in the 12 years she's lived in nursing homes, she's seen more young people moving in.

Christina sold about 200 copies of "Blessings From Within The Dark" and she's writing a second book. She wants to save enough money to move into an assisted living facility where she's have more independence.

"I always tell my followers on TikTok you can't choose what happens to you but you can choose how you respond to it," she said.

You can find "Blessings From Within The Dark" on Amazon and you can follow the Nursing Home Chic on TikTok.

On Her Mind is a weekly segment focused on issues that impact women every day. Make sure your voice is heard by sending any story ideas or comments to onhermind@fox23.com .