Written by Ryann Smith Groseclose 

* This story was orinially shared in the 2023 December issue of Ladera Ranch Neighbors magazine.

Meet Dan and Carina Gregersen. This friendly and outgoing couple met through mutual friends in Denmark in 2002. Dan had just graduated from Aalborg University with his master’s degree in electronic engineering, and Carina was working on her drafting technician degree at Tech College Aalborg. They knew instantly they had found their “person” in one another and have been together ever since.

In 2011, the couple eloped, leaving Denmark behind, and tying the knot in Las Vegas. Carina fondly reflects, “It was just us, the photographer, and the marriage official in a small park in a neighborhood. It was very intimate and romantic.”

They decided to move to the U.S. permanently and settled in Ladera Ranch later that same year. The Gregersens chose Ladera because, as Dan explains, “It is a nice, quiet, family-friendly place, with many community offerings, like pools, tennis courts, and other amenities. Coming from cold and rainy Denmark, it felt like a vacation area when we first moved here.”

The couple’s pride and joy is their 10-year-old daughter, Maggie. Maggie is nothing short of a miracle. Born three months early, she has faced a host of health challenges, including a brain bleed and resulting hydrocephalus (excess fluid on the brain), which required eight brain surgeries over the course of four and a half months. She spent 137 days in the NICU, and Carina and Dan waited five long months to bring their baby girl home.

Carina explains more, “Maggie is a medically complicated child. In addition to the brain bleed and surgeries as an infant, she was also diagnosed with epilepsy at age three. The increased pressure in her head as a newborn resulted in nerve damage to her left optic nerve and has gravely affected her depth perception. She’s had to fight every step of the way as the shunt that was placed in her head also led to speech disabilities. She’s since been diagnosed with autism and ADHD, which creates additional learning disabilities.”  

To say she has been challenged with a lot is an understatement. But Maggie is one tough cookie. Maggie sees an array of specialists to ensure she is getting the best possible care and has undergone countless hours of therapy over the years, from occupational therapy and speech therapy to physical therapy and ABA therapy. But the one therapy she absolutely adores is working with horses weekly at The Shea Center.

For those who don’t know, hippotherapy is a treatment modality used in physical, occupational, and speech therapy that “utilizes the natural gait and movement of a horse to provide motor and sensory input.” Used for a variety of physical and mental disorders, hippotherapy improves neurologic function and sensory processes. But to Maggie, hippotherapy never felt like work. She just got to be around the majestic animals she loves.

Her mom remembers the early days, “When she started going to the Shea Center at just 2.5 years old, Maggie had just learned how to walk independently. She was very unsteady on her feet because of her low muscle tone and being behind developmentally. After just a few physical therapy sessions using hippotherapy, we saw huge improvements in her muscle tone. Her core muscles, endurance on the horse, and walking were improving much faster than when she was just doing regular physical therapy.

“During Maggie’s hippotherapy, we have seen so much progress with her muscle strength, gross motor skills, and ability to connect strongly with her therapist and volunteer side-walker. It has been amazing to see what a big difference this type of therapy can make and just how many muscles are worked in just one session.”

Hippotherapy vastly differs from all the other therapies Maggie has endured throughout her life. Dan explains, “For Maggie, Hippotherapy was doing tricks on a horse, feeding the horse carrots, and playing games in the barn. Maggie has always seen The Shea Center as a place to do fun activities, not ‘work’ like in her regular therapies.” The stables are her happy place, the horses are her friends, and her trainers have become like family.

After watching Maggie’s hippotherapy on the sidelines for years, Carina decided to lend her time to the Shea Center to give back to the place that has helped her daughter so much. She first became a volunteer side-walker for Maggie during the pandemic and also spends a week each summer helping with camp at The Shea Center. She says, “It is amazing to see kids with and without disabilities coming together, sharing fun experiences, and making new friendships.”

Almost a year ago, Maggie graduated from hippotherapy and began adapted riding lessons. In these lessons, she rides Shaw, a horse she has been paired with for a few years now. Dan shares, “The two of them have bonded so well, even though Maggie is not super comfortable with getting too close to his face to pet him. But sitting in the saddle, she loves it so much that it looks like she was born to ride.”

The Gregersens have been fixtures at the Shea Center for so many years now that everyone knows them. Maggie’s smiling face is always a welcome sight, and she’s known for her positive attitude, being very outgoing, and always talking to everyone. Carina shares more on why their whole family loves spending time there. “The Shea Center is such a welcoming place. Everyone is so nice, inclusive, and understanding. They understand that kids can have a difficult day, and they just embrace it, work with it, and then do what is needed to get the kid happy again. It is all about the kids having a great experience.”

When she’s not on horseback, Maggie loves taking karate classes at Karate for All in Tustin. She currently has her orange belt with two stripes. Carina takes a parent class there, too, and has her yellow belt. In addition to being an In-Home Support Service (IHSS) Provider for Maggie, Carina also works part-time as an elementary library media technician (librarian) at two local elementary schools. Dan owns Maggnumite Inc., a local consulting agency focusing on Microsoft Business Solutions.

Every summer, the Gregersens travel back to Denmark for three to four weeks to visit family and friends and indulge in salty licorice—a treat they miss from back home. Maggie gets spoiled by her grandparents and plays with her younger cousins. Her parents agree, “We love that we can make these family memories and Maggie can have quality time with all her family in Denmark. It is important that she gets to know the culture there and learn that side of where she comes from.”

Back at home, Carina and Dan mix Danish and American traditions during major holidays to make the holidays their own. They have also created family traditions like their weekly pizza night, where they make the dough from scratch, and Carina’s baking, which includes bread, cinnamon rolls, and simple Danish cakes and Danish Christmas cookies.

The Gregersen family offers this sage advice to their Ladera Ranch neighbors, “When you meet someone who looks or acts different than expected, treat them like you would any other person. You never know what they are dealing with or challenged by. Everyone deserves to feel welcome and included.

What a beautiful sentiment this holiday season and all year long.