Fit so snugly into a race chair that it looks hard to breathe, Dawna Zane uses her hands to adjust her paralyzed feet, which hang limply on legs that will probably never move on their own again.

Then she smiles.

"Of course, I miss walking and running," she said. "I miss the convenience of being able to walk. But I've done so much since my accident. I'm still very happy with my life. I'm just trying to keep an optimistic approach on life."

Zane, 24, is paralyzed from her chest down after getting into a car accident nearly six years ago. Last year, she won the women's wheelchair division of The Hono-lulu Marathon after finishing in 3 hours, 36 minutes, 20 seconds.

She is racing in her third Hono-lulu Marathon on Sunday.

Her mother, Susan, echoed Zane's sentiments: "I don't have any regret for her, because she has made so much of her life. She sees what she has left, and she goes for it."

Her mother calls her inspiring, "and (Dawna) can't figure out why it's such a big deal," Susan said.

"I was actually the only lady, so I don't think I really won," said Zane, who attends the University of Hawai'i and is majoring in family resources. "It's just an accomplishment to finish. I don't brag to people that I won, because I don't think I did it fairly."

Since the accident, Dawna has emerged from a shy teenager scared to step out of her mother's shadow, to a young woman who leaves her family behind to go on trips to Japan, Alaska, and Las Vegas, with an upcoming trip planned for New Zealand.

"She was like my shadow until her accident," Susan said. "She couldn't go to the store by herself. Even in the house, she would follow me around."

Dawna said she's a naturally shy person, but being in a wheelchair has brought her our of her shell.

"It has forced me to speak up more," she said. "If there's something I need help with I need to ask for things."

She didn't hesitate to accept help on Feb. 10, 2000, the day of the accident. She was walking in Kapahulu on the way to Tongg's beach in Waikiki with a friend, and an acquaintance offered to give them a ride.

On the way, the driver ran a stop sign and the car was broadsided on the right side, where Dawna was sitting. From what investigators pieced together after the accident, Zane, who was sitting in the backseat, was thrown from the car.

"The last thing I really remember was feeling really scared," she said. "I think I blacked out after that. They said I was conscious and talking, but I don't remember."

Susan remembers the first time she saw her daughter after the accident, in the emergency room.

"She was kind of in and out," Susan said. "The first thing she said was, 'Don't worry about me,' and the second was 'Tell him that I'm not angry, that I forgive him.'

"After the accident people said she's probably going to go through some anger or resentment, and she never has. That's the kind of person she is."

Dawna also broke her collarbone, and still has a dent on the top of her forehead.

"She must have a really hard head," Susan said. "The top of her forehead was hit, that's where the largest bruise was, but she didn't have any brain damage."

Dawna, who is in the middle of finals at the University of Hawai'i, said, "I think I am brain damaged. But I always had a bad memory. I can use that for exams. I haven't used it yet."

Her spinal cord was compressed near the top, deadening her nerves. Chances that she will walk again are "slim."

Before the accident, she was a member of Kalani High School's basketball and swim teams, and she surfed and ran.

Dawna, then a senior, went to the school's swimming banquet a month after the accident, was home schooled at the hospital, and attended her senior prom and graduation ceremony.

"All the nurses and doctors came to check him out," Susan said of Dawna's prom date.

Dawna, who said if she hadn't gotten into the accident, she would have probably run a Honolulu Marathon, hopes to continue staying active. For the marathon, she trains four days a week, usually 12 miles a day but sometimes upwards of 20 miles. She also swims, plays basketball and tennis, paddles, and lifts weights. She can also drive, with a car that has hand controls.

Her goal for Sunday's race is to knock half an hour off her time, which she thinks is possible, given her increased experience, and better race chair.

She also hopes to earn her degree in a few semesters, figure out what she wants to do with it — a strong possibility is a career in counseling, and raise a family.

"She's the inspiration in our family, that's for sure," Susan said. "She's still kind of on the shy side, but now she's not afraid to talk to people. It's kind of a trademark of hers, that she's always smiling. People know that and they respond to that."

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com.