One of the key things events like this do is bring together community leaders. We're all working toward a common goal. ... The key is to maintain that momentum.

She fought to really bring awareness of that agency to light and to make them a more recognized force.

That really brought it home for us. As emotional as it was for people in the stands to see Tara in that wheelchair, when you start to think of what could have happened ... it makes you appreciate the fact she is still with us.

They (doctors) warned us at the very beginning that there would be a lot of baby steps throughout the whole process. In essence, she has taken a lot of baby steps that, when you look at the whole picture, it has added up to huge steps. She has come so much further along than anyone hoped she would be at this point.