Each of our Team Reeve participants has a story. Some are living with spinal cord injuries, some participate in honor of a friend or family member, and some participate just because.

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Team Reeve participant John Carson, who was injured in July 2009, is one of many with a truly inspiring story.

John (pictured) was particularly inspired by the documentary, Hope in Motion, produced and directed by Christopher Reeve's eldest son, Matthew, which focuses on Christopher Reeve's journey to recovery. "As long as I continued to keep hope and keep moving, I knew I would get to the finish line," says John, who has raised close to $10,000. "The gain for me is getting people aware and wearing the colors of the Reeve Foundation."

Read the rest of John's epic story.

More on John's recent endeavors here.

Janelle

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Last weekend I volunteered at the Life Rolls On event in Rockaway, NY.

The organization, based in California, inspires people living with paralysis by the way of skiing, surfing, and skateboarding. Jesse Billauer, founder of the organization was injured in a surfing accident as a teenager. He was on his way to becoming a world class surfer and was determined to continue to surf again after his injury.

By 9:30 a.m. a section of the beach was filled with excitement. It was a beautiful, sunny day. Colored banners were displayed indicating the three teams which included land and water volunteers, surfers, and participants. Sarah Donaldson, LRO Program Manager, led the event for all. The waves were manageable which is the first and most important factor in determining if it is a good day to proceed. There were 27 participants or 9 per team. Each participant was transferred from his or her wheelchairs to the surfboard. Six volunteers surrounded each surfboard and carried the person out to the ocean. The facial expressions were so great. As the person got closer to the wave and upon completion of the surf to land. Many had done this for the first time.

I was very curious as to how someone living with paralysis can stay on a surfboard, or if not, how he or she dealt with being tossed in the water. I must have seen at least half a dozen fall in and come out in an instant with the help of the volunteers. A couple of times I saw the facial expressions only get better! Signs of joy and freedom were displayed throughout the event.

Now I can call my brother, Vinny, to encourage him to participate. He became paralyzed in the ocean which left him with a C5 level of injury, quadriplegia. The next opportunity for him would be in La Jolla, CA in September. I also had the pleasure of speaking to David McCauley (pictured) who participated that day. His level of injury is C4, quadriplegia. David smiled from the moment he was placed on the board to the moment he came ashore after a couple of flips in the water. First time experience with an incredible outcome. He wants to do it again. David has his own organization called the David J. McCauley Fund to Cure Paralysis.

A very positive day for those who have been given an incredible opportunity and for those who witnessed it as I did.

Thank you Life Rolls On! 

Sonja
Assistant to Director
Quality of Life Grants

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There is just one day left to nominate that awesome dad you to be named the 2010 Best Dad on Wheels! Nominations for our summer long search end tomorrow so be sure to enter your dad, or any other dad you know who is living with paralysis, into our contest.

I’ve had the pleasure to read a handful of the entries thus far and am truly amazed at not only the dedication dads have, but the desire of the people nominating them to tell their story.

Here's part of an entry that came in about dad of four, Paul Mahoney (pictured).

He seems small in his wheelchair, but my Dad is a giant. I have never seen him walk because he broke his neck in an accident at 21, yet I look up to him as a great father, trial attorney, and community leader who mentors other accident victims.

Watching him, I have learned respect for all people, and I have learned about faith and perseverance. Because I was four when he finished law school, I saw him build his own law practice by taking difficult cases for injured clients who often had nothing.

Wh not tell the world about the amazing dad on wheels you know? Time is running out, get your entries in! And good luck!

Janelle

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I don't know about you, but I can't even do a back flip standing up. Aaron "Wheelz" Fotheringham (pictured here from his website) did a double backflip in a wheelchair! Aaron, who is living spina bifida, is the world's first to land the double backflip in a wheelchair.

Hats off to him alright! Words can't describe how awesome this is, you have to check out the video for yourself!

Janelle

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Of course you know that our Chicago chapter is having a comedy night on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010 at The House of Blues® Chicago for Care. Cure. Comedy. Chicago.

It stars Susie Essman of HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm. The event will feature a live comedy performance, open bar and food, silent auction, and more!

Get your individual tickets here. Tell your friends! Watch a video of Susie.

But, did you know we will be honor some very special people that night? Behind all the fun that is Susie Essman, the money we raise is all about people. Here is a little about three people who are very special to us.

Debbie & John Ziegelman
2010 Reeve Chicago Friendship Award Honorees
Selflessly, the Ziegelmans have championed the Reeve Foundation’s mission for many years. Their devotion stems from their close personal connection to Reeve Board member Danny Heumann, whose volunteer leadership they have supported through tireless efforts to raise awareness and funds for research programs to develop cures for spinal cord injury and quality of life programs to care for people living with paralysis.

As founding members of the Reeve Foundation’s Chicago chapter, Debbie and John have helped motivate others to join our collective cause. Debbie is a graduate of the University of Chicago’s clinical social work graduate program and has shared her many talents as a founding partner of an auction sealed bid firm, a Board member for the Medical Research Institute Council of Children’s Memorial Hospital, and an active volunteer for her children’s schools and a number of community organizations.

John is the Founder, President and CEO of Carpe Diem Capital Management LLC, an investment management company formed in 2001, and has over 23 years experience in the investment and finance sectors. Debbie and John are the proud parents of three wonderful sons: Joey, Danny, and Sammy.

J.J. O’Connor
2010 Reeve Chicago Inspiration Award Honoree
As General Manager of the Paralympics 2010 USA National Sled Hockey Team, J.J. O’Connor helped to guide his team toward a gold medal. And his ability to inspire others didn’t just start there. After sustaining a spinal cord injury during a high school hockey match that left him paralyzed from the neck down, J.J. went on to show that nothing could stop him from pursuing his goals and dreams.

He graduated Cum Laude with a major in business and a minor in communications from Lake Forest College, delivering the commencement address that was aired on Good Morning America. A career in public speaking has taken J.J. all around the world to spread his message about overcoming obstacles, and his entrepreneurial spirit has led him to own several SportClips hair cutting salons.

J.J’s leadership knows no bounds – he has started a youth sled hockey team, the Hornets, has chaired the Disabled Sports Section for USA Hockey nationwide, has played on the Chicago Fire Power soccer team and has volunteered his time visiting young people with spinal cord injuries.

Join us that night!

Rob

PS: Don't forget to watch the little video invite, direct from Susie Essman herself!

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Our friends at The National Spinal Cord Injury Association are having a teleconference on the treatment options for severe spasticity:

You may have severe spasticity, a condition that does not allow you to voluntarily relax your muscles. Spasticity makes movement, posture, and balance difficult. It can affect your ability to move one or more of your limbs, or to move one side of your body. Spasticity is often associated with multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, stroke, spinal cord injury, and brain injury.

While there is no cure for spasticity, there are treatments.

Join us for a Release Your Potential teleconference, a nationwide program designed to educate people about treatment options for severe spasticity. During this 90-minute program you’ll hear from a physician who specializes in spasticity management and an Ambassador (a person living with severe spasticity) who is receiving treatment to help manage severe spasticity.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010
7:00 pm Central Time

Register online or call toll-free 1-888-743-8348 today.

There is no charge to attend this event.

Find out more about spasticity here.

Rob

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The National Alliance for Caregiving is seeking family caregivers of veterans for a new study. This study will provide an opportunity for family caregivers of Veterans to be heard and to improve services for caregivers of Veterans now and beyond.

The National Alliance for Caregiving is a non-profit research organization and has conducted many national research studies on caregiving.

Caregivers are: relatives, friends, and neighbors providing unpaid assistance to Veterans helping with everyday activities, including personal care -- help with bathing, dressing, or feeding assisting with medications and other treatments, transportation to doctors’ appointments arranging for services, and assisting Veterans with PTSD or TBI.

Caregivers of Veterans from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and other conflicts through the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan will be included in the study.

Find out more at caregiving.org.

For more on the Foundation's military outreach campaign, go here.

Rob

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Janelle posted our back-to-school piece yesterday (Rolling Back to School - soon-to-be third grader, Alex Pitts is pictured here from that piece), and then she found this piece about the University of Illinois:

With very limited use of her arms and legs, Kelsey Rozema has needed her parents help with most daily tasks - getting out of bed, showering, putting on a coat, and even opening a water bottle. In 18 years, they've been apart for only six nights.

So moving into a college dorm this week - and away from the reliance on her family - is even more of a milestone for Rozema than for the thousands of other wide-eyed freshmen at the University of Illinois, a ritual that will be repeated on college campuses throughout the country in coming weeks.

It helped that she moved into the university's first new residence hall in 44 years, and the most user-friendly dorm in the country for students with severe physical disabilities. As Rozema wheeled into her single room for the first time Tuesday, a disability advocate showed off the features: A wireless pager that will call for help 24 hours a day, and a remote-controlled ceiling lift system to transport her from her bed to the in-room bathroom.

Read the rest.

Rob

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New in the PRC Library…

You and Me Against the World by Vinny and Mojca Integlia as told to Jack Galvin. c. 2005. 295 pages. Available as an electronic download for $9.95. You can read the first chapter for free here .

Vinny Integlia is a public speaker and businessman who became a C5/C6 quad at the age of 17. Vinny first came to our attention through his sister Sonja who was a long time volunteer and currently an employee at the Reeve Foundation. Vinny has led a full life, earning his college and masters degree, holding various positions in the business world, and raising money for spinal cord injury research. Vinny also plays various wheelchair sports, has testified at state and federal hearings on spinal cord injury, introduced legislation related to personal care attendants, and created his own non-profit foundation: Vinny’s Spinal Cord Research Foundation of Rhode Island. Vinny had to overcome a second major health issue when he was diagnosed with cancer in his sinus which resulted in losing an eye. Vinny dedicated the book to his mother Mojca who writes chapters in the book from her point of view. The book covers the time period from his injury while diving in the ocean to his graduation from college.

A copy of Vinny’s book can be checked out from the Paralysis Resource Center’s library. Please see the online catalog and borrowing instructions here.

We talk a lot in our online community about Dr. Dan Gottlieb. He is our resident family therapist and answers questions live in the community every Tuesday. When I found out a few weeks back that he would be visiting the office I thought “Cool, I get to meet the guy that’s in our community every week!” After meeting him though, I admit he is much more than that cool guy in our community every week!

It really was an honor to have met him. If I were asked to describe Dr. Dan in one word, my answer would be ‘bright’. His intelligence, wit and humor, persona, and overall outlook on life are bright. (Dr. Dan is pictured here with our Director of Digital Media, Rob Gerth).

Sometimes people tend to lose interest and have short attention spans. After an hour and a half, I felt like I was only sitting in the room with Dr. Dan for ten minutes. Everything he said was insightful, real, and well, bright.

Despite Dr. Dan telling us about some of his own personal experiences, one line really stuck out simply because anyone can relate to it…

“It is much easier to be the person we are than to be the person we think we should be.”

Honestly, sit back and read that over a few times. It doesn’t get brighter than that.

As Dr. Dan spoke, he spoke fluidly and from the heart. He spoke openly, something he agreed makes life much easier.

Reading over my post just now, I realized I used a whole lot of adjectives to describe Dr. Dan. Maybe that is the journalist in me. However, I tend to think I wrote this way simply because, well, it’s the truth. The best adjective to use however, is the one Dr. Dan uses himself on his business card – HUMAN.

Thanks Dr. Dan for coming by and brightening up my day!

Janelle

PS - Learn even more about Dr. Dan on his website, including his books and radio show. 

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As I approached the Kessler Institute on Tuesday I thought “is this the place that Christopher Reeve received rehabilitation?” Wow, now I am here to observe what he began for the disabled who have hope in the recovery process. . . even more amazing.

The NeuroRecovery Network (NRN) is set up in such a way that is inviting to those who go there. A very warm and motivated environment in which people who go there can feel “at home”. At home in the sense that they can work on themselves and know that all who surround them want the very best for them in their recovery process. A home in which there is a sense of peace while there is a nurturing environment in which to gain as much as possible while not being distracted. It is a team atmosphere that anyone who is striving for a positive common goal can work on in their own time without any pressure. Just do it and do it at one’s own pace.

This is how Michael's outlook is.. Michael (pictured) was injured in a skiing accident a couple of years ago. He has an incomplete C4 level of injury. He drives every day for 2 ½ hours each way from Pennsylvania. As I watched Michael using the “NRN” I sensed the strong determination and motivation. He was set up by his Kessler “team” on the harness while his legs were being moved on the treadmill. This movement is done for one hour with a break by the half hour. This was Michael’s 84th visit since April of 2010. Wow! What determination! He also has the support of his family and friends. We also met his Physical Therapist, Buffy, who has been with Michael since being at Kessler following the injury. Michael stated that “the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation with the help of Buffy are the driving forces that have brought him to this level of recovery”. Following the treadmill Michael proudly showed everyone how he can now stand on his own for about a minute at a time. He is also able to sit out of his wheelchair without falling from side to side. He has accomplished these two events in less than six months! In addition to this, he is also off of Baclofen which has been used for spasticity. This in itself is a miracle!

Overall, I am very impressed with the NeuroRecovery Network. It is one thing to read about this program or view it online. However, when one has the opportunity, as I did, to actually view it in person, one has a totally different outlook on the recovery process. This is the beginning of something greater within the recovery world. A piece of scientific research that participates in the big picture of hope. I am glad that I can share this experience with you. I hope that I have given more reason and inspiration to those and I hope that the dreams do come true one day.

Qualifications and more about the NRN are stated here.

Sonja
Assistant to Director
Quality of Life Grants

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If kids haven't already gone back-to-school, they soon will over the next week or two. Another summer come and gone, another year of multiplication flash cards for elementary school kids, decorating lockers for middle and high school students, and buying only the best gadgets, like single-cup coffee makers, for your new dorm room for college students.

Back-to-school days, some love it, some hate it, and for some there are challenges not everyone has to think about. For those going back-to-school in a wheelchair, preparation is a little more than just buying notebooks and pencils.

We wrote this back-to-school piece last year so it's time to share it again. Whether your child is is grammar school or going to college, the story gives some tips and tricks on what back-to-school means on wheels.

Here's some advice from Back-to-School: What it Means When You're in a Wheelchair.

Corey Mineo, (pictured) a 21-year-old senior psychology major at the University of Colorado Denver (UC Denver), knows about living a college life in a wheelchair firsthand. Diagnosed at age one-and-a-half with Muscular Dystrophy and Charcot Marie Tooth, Mineo urges that preparation is the most important aspect of getting ready for college.

Before attending UC Denver, Mineo studied at a local college. "I decided to go to a two- year community college (Colorado Mountain College)," explains Mineo, "It is much more personal and really helped me to transition. I didn't feel it was best to go right into a big university. It was a big step, it helped build a drive to go to the next level."

Read it all here.

Wondering where the most accessible colleges are? Here's a top ten list. Some of the universities are featured in our story too.

Janelle

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At about 10:45 last night, I'm winding down watching some TV when I hear this loud crash noise.

I immediately look out my bedroom window, run downstairs out the front door, and to the corner. I see a teenager laying in the street. Luckily he was concious but then I noticed blood on his head. He tried to move and so our conversation was something along the lines of:

Me: "Buddy, do not move! Can you feel everything?"

Him: "Yea. I'm okay just this blood on my head and I think I broke my finger. Um mamm, can you please find my longboard?"

Me: "Sure."

Him reaching for his cell phone: "I'm just going to call my friend I was supposed to meet."

Me: "Why don't you call your parents first!"

As we were talking, I noticed a motorcycle laying in the road and another person about 30 yards away. This 18-year-old boy on his longboard (like a skateboard) and a man on a motorcycle collided. (I later read in the newspaper the man on the motorcycle was driving under the influence.)

Now unfortunately, I hear loud noises and see crashes more often than I'd like near where I live, so it didn't come as a surprise to me. My entire life I have lived in this same house on this same pretty dangerous corner. I've seen everything from fender benders to a young kid on a bicycle being hit and pinned underneath a car.

Scary? Oh yea.

What got me most though, was this was the first time I actually went outside and thought of something more than to just call 911. The guy on the motorcycle was wearing his helmet, but the 18-year-old was not.

As we said in our video newsletter earlier this summer, you might think you look cool either not wearing a helmet or wearing it the wrong way, but you sure won't be protected.

Once cops and ambulances came, I walked back over to my house and stood there for a few minutes looking at the scene. I didn't ask any further, but it appears, both of the individuals were pretty much okay. They got off lucky, because as we know, this isn't always the case.

So I urge you, as the last weeks of summer are upon us, do not forget our simple summer safety tips. And share the tips with your friends, too.

Watch the video.

Read the summer safety checklist.

Janelle

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We started the search for the Best Dad on Wheels 2010 right around Father's Day. That was June. It's now the end of August, and believe it or not, the first round of the contest is coming to a close!

You have until September 3rd to tell us all the fabulous reasons (in 200 words or less, please) why the father you know should be crowned this year's Best Dad on Wheels.

When we started the contest, I thought about Christopher Reeve, (pictured here with daughter, Alexandra) and how even though he was living with paralysis he showed his children there was no such thing as limitations.

There's a lot of dads out there just like this. Tell us about that special dad you know.

Get those entries in. The countdown is on! 

Janelle

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Here is a piece from the latest post from Blog Squad Contributor, "Walking Quad."

As newborns, one of the first things we fixate on and discover is our hands. Parents of newborns watch in amazement as their young baby stares and explores their hands and fingers for hours. How can something so simple hold such amazement and interest? Hands, are amazing in all they can do; zipper your pants and button your shirt, hold your lover’s hand, carry a bag, turn the page of a book, hold a steaming cup of hot coffee first thing in the morning, and nurture your garden. What happens when your hands betray you, no longer cooperating and doing what you need and want them to do, what then?

When I transitioned from a walking para to a walking quad I realized just how much I had taken my hands for granted. I have central cord syndrome, so even with significant recovery, my hands and fingers continue to betray me, something that I am reminded of on a daily basis. I have dealt with severe neuropathic pain in my arms, hands and fingers that often prevent me from even wearing a long sleeve shirt, covering myself with a sheet or shaking someone’s hand using my right hand.

Can you relate? Read it all here.

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