For eight years, Megan Blunk has documented her recovery from a near-fatal motorcycle accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down. That diary — kept on an external hard drive — was stolen Monday night from a house she rents in Urbana.
On Wednesday, Blunk was told by Urbana police that her diary — as well as other valuables — had been recovered as the investigation into the burglary continued.
“I felt really relieved,” said Blunk, a former member of the UI women’s wheelchair basketball team who won gold with Team USA at last month’s Paralympics in Brazil. “That was something I couldn’t replace.”
Yet to be recovered, however, is the ring Blunk received in Rio de Janeiro — with her name on it. Perhaps the police will ID it among the stash found at the suspect’s house. Or … “maybe it’s in a dumpster,” Blunk said. “It’d be nice if someone could keep an eye out for it.
“I hope there is a hope.”Blunk was 18 when she broke her back in the 2008 accident. “Despite the loss and sadness I was feeling I was determined to make my life better and turn the accident into something good that I could use to help others,” she said.
Blunk earned a wheelchair basketball scholarship from the UI in 2011 and played five years, earning a degree in psychology in 2014.
Her inspirational journey is mapped out in the diary that police recovered.
“No matter the outcome from here on,” she said, “I am relieved and very thankful.
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