Family finds deeper faith after bullet alters teen's life

By SUE NOWICKI
snowicki@modbee.com

last updated: March 23, 2008 08:30:49 AM

The petite girl in the Modesto Junior College music-appreciation class looks like everyone else in the auditorium -- wearing blue jeans and sneakers, taking notes, exchanging grins with a friend.

Then the dismissal bell rings and she pulls a nearby wheelchair up to her seat so it is facing her. She almost falls because it's tough trying to turn 180 degrees when your legs are paralyzed. But her determination and upper body strength save her at the last minute, and Michelle Dalrymple is rolling out the door, looking up to chat with a classmate.

The 18-year-old does a lot of looking up these days, ever since the bizarre accident that left a bullet lodged in her spine.

"It's given me a completely different perspective on life," she said. "I used to be short and looked up to people, but now I'm really short. I know what it's like to lose a lot. I know what's it like to not know if you're going to live or die. It scares you. Then after everything happened, it made me value life more."

The "everything" that happened was the day in August 2006 when she was a Modesto beauty college student between her junior and senior years at Big Valley Christian High School. She was learning how to be a hairstylist to help pay for college.

"I thought it would be a fun job," she said.

The students were on a break and sitting in a circle talking about their weekend plans. Another student, Mick Rubalcava, had come back inside from a smoking break and sat in a chair behind Michelle. Rubalcava, a 23-year-old off-duty security officer, had a 9 mm handgun in his backpack. The gun discharged when he put the pack on the floor; the bullet went through Michelle's plastic chair, hit her backbone and traveled up along it, severing her spinal cord.

Rubalcava pleaded guilty to one felony and two misdemeanors in the case and was sentenced to 270 days. With credits for good behavior and jail overcrowding, he served about six months in the county jail in 2007.

Unless a miracle occurs, Michelle will spend the rest of her life as a paraplegic. She believes in the message of Easter, believes she'll walk again in heaven. But in a split-second, her earthly life changed totally.

Growing up

Michelle is the youngest of three children in the Dalrymple family. Her dad, Terry, and mom, Jeannie, were missionaries in the Philippines when Michelle was born. Terry now is the international coordinator with Modesto-based LifeWind International, a nonprofit organization that helps communities in impoverished countries.

Michelle's mom is a registered nurse at Doctors Medical Center. Tim, Michelle's 24-year-old brother, is on staff at Big Valley Grace Community Church. Her sister, Karen, 21, works in the banking industry in Modesto.

Talk to any of them and a picture of an energetic Michelle emerges.

"Being the youngest, she was always the scrapper," recalled Jeannie. "We called her the Energizer bunny."

That early love of activity continued into her teens. She jogged regularly and played volleyball and basketball at Big Valley Christian High School. She also loved soccer.

"From a father's perspective, she was doing everything right," Terry said. "She was studying hard in school. She was active in sports. She had a good group of friends. ... She was very active with the youth group. She gave her Easter vacations every year to go to Mexico and serve the needs of people down there."

He also appreciated the way she was thinking ahead.

"She knew that we didn't have a lot of money and she'd need to support herself through college, so she was taking the cosmetology course," he said. "I was just delighted to see she had vision and determination and plans, and was very happy at the direction her life was moving."

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