The Reeve Foundation team is deeply saddened that our wonderful friend, Robert "Kink" Clawson, passed away this past Sunday, September 25th, 2011, on what would have been Christopher Reeve's 59th birthday.  Read More

Enthusiastic supporters, energetic participants and emerging sunshine came together to make Team Reeve Connecticut's 2nd annual Roll-a-thon in Hartford's beautiful Bushnell Park a great success -- and great fun! Read More

It is not always easy to express the amount of respect, joy, love, or admiration you have for someone...especially someone you have never met, never will meet.

With this, I speak of Christopher Reeve. This Saturday, September 25, would have been his 59th birthday. I, as well as I hope many of you, will celebrate this day, not mourn it. Even after Christopher (and Dana) are no longer with us physically, there is no doubt they are here in other ways.

They are everywhere... How we can look at the impact of Christopher in the paralysis field, and not be moved is simply impossible.

So even though I am writing this birthday wish in honor of Christopher as someone who never knew him, I encourage you to read this letter from his oldest son, Matthew, someone who knew him quite well. Here's part of the letter:

Rather than allowing his injury to define him, my father redefined what was possible for people living with spinal cord injuries. And, with the generous help of caring friends like you, he energized an international search for treatments and cures for paralysis -- a search that, with your help, led to this remarkable breakthrough.

We are now closer than ever to realizing my father's dream of regained movement, recovered function, and new steps for individuals living with spinal cord injuries. And though he is not here to continue the journey with us, you and I keep his memory alive by carrying on the work he began. (Picture credit above: Ken Regan; Matthew, Christopher, and Alexandra 1996)


Read all of Matthew's letter here.

Happy Birthday Christopher. May we all celebrate your legacy!

Janelle

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Join Gary Karp as he speaks from personal experience on Tuesday, September 27 at 1pm (EST) regarding adjusting to life living with paralysis.

Becoming paralyzed is a sudden and jarring life experience that changes the course of one's life. At first, it is all but impossible to form a vision of what that life will be, of a path towards a future that is satisfying, much less meaningful. Yet thousands of people have moved forward from that point of trauma, regardless of how devastated they felt at the time, to a full life. How does that work?

Gary Karp, Reeve Foundation speaker, went through that experience 38 years ago at the age of 18 when he fell from a tree and became paraplegic at the T12 level. He has since written books and articles and spoken extensively on disability. In 2007 he was inducted into the Spinal Cord Injury Hall of Fame as a disability educator. In this one-hour webinar Gary will share what he's learned about the process of adjustment to paralysis.

Over and over, people who couldn't imagine it at first have found their path to a new–or modified–future vision of their lives. And then lived it. All too often, they had to labor under beliefs and fears that turned out to not be true, or which they found they were able to transcend.

Join Gary Karp for this important and profound session designed to help people who have recently acquired paralysis to engage in their own adjustment process and move forward to the life that is possible in their own best possible time.

For more information and to register for the webinar, click here.

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The inaugural Spinal Cord Injury Association of Washington State Walk & Roll takes place on Saturday, October 15th, 8:30-11:30 a.m. at Green Lake in Seattle, WA, and benefits the work of both SCIAW and the Reeve Foundation.

Register for the event here.

Visit www.sciaw.org for further information.

Please help support this first-ever event; if you live in the Washington area, come out to walk and roll!

Trish and Team Reeve

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There was no better way to commemorate the spirit of community on September 11th than by joining the family and friends of Ryan Rigard for their 5th annual golf outing to benefit the Reeve Foundation. The rain held off, and a record of nearly 100 golfers came out to Pocono Farms Country Club for a day marked by caring and generosity -- and a little friendly competition. Ryan thanked everyone by joining for a few minutes via Skype, and attendees learned about a recent breakthrough in spinal cord injury research.

The event is projected to raise $10,000 to advance the Reeve Foundation's vital work. We appreciate the Rigards and all of your wonderful supporters. Thank you! (Karen and Rich Rigard, parents of Ryan Rigard, pictured)

Trish and Team Reeve

PS: Speaking of Team Reeve, next it's on to Montana and marathons, right, Ryan!? (No pressure of course!)

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I look up the definition of "power" and all the definitions I am finding don't really express the power of our Social Mediathon this past Tuesday. The theme of the first ever Reeve Foundation Social Mediathon was "The Power of We;" all of us coming together to empower the paralysis community to raise funds for our mission of "Today's Care. Tomorrow's Cure.

We raised over $4,000 and counting. But more than this tangible amount was the intangible evidence of everyone who supported us. This, to me, is "power."

So I thank everyone on behalf of the nearly 5.6 million Americans living with paralysis for their support, compassion, and selflessness to spread the message. (8-year-old Chase Ford, pictured, is walking again thanks to the Reeve Foundation's NeuroRecovery Network.)

My favorite quotation that we used in many of our posts was from Dana Reeve, "Giving back is the rent you pay for being on the planet." It is so simple, yet, well, powerful. While we are all on our Facebook and Twitter accounts several times daily, we gave back during the Social Mediathon to disperse our message into cyberspace, to donate, to support our work.

So one more time, I will say, thank you, because each and every one of you is ultimately THE POWER OF WE. YOU are part of this movement.

Janelle

PS: There's still time to donate. We are asking to donate $1 for every year you have been fortunate enough to walk. Whether it was $5 or $500, you are helping us to carry on Christopher and Dana's legacy.


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Give me a 'V!' Give me an 'O!' Give me a 'T!' Give me an 'E!' What does that spell? VOTE!

That's right, this is your last chance to vote for the 2011 Best Mom on Wheels contest. Voting ends Friday at midnight, so get your votes in while you can. The top ten finalists each have special stories, so be sure to read them all, and select your favorite.

Be sure to tell your family and friends, too. Just go to ChristopherReeve.org/BestMom to case your vote today!

Best Mom nominee, Erin Gildner is pictured at right. Watch a video a local news station in her hometown area in Arkansas ran about her!

Janelle


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Dr. Dan Gottlieb (pictured at right in the Reeve Foundation offices last summer) is the resident psychologist here in the online community. He recently contributed to The Huffington Post about what it means to have compassion for your body. Here's a snippet from his piece:

In that moment I woke up to the love in my life and I saw everything in perspective. I was again reminded that love is a treasure and that arms are arms. The paralysis remained, as did the burning pain, but the suffering was diminished. At least for that moment!

All pain demands attention. And paying attention to pain saves lives. For most of us humans, when we feel any kind of pain, we begin to tell ourselves stories about what the pain means, how it happened, and who's to blame. As we speculate about what this means for our future lives, and so on, our stories become more detailed and elaborate until we have constructed grand works of fiction that we believe to be true. That's exactly what happened to me. The feelings of all-embracing love had been my grand awakening. But after that, it was as if I went right back to sleep, telling myself that the paralysis would never heal and that I would be in anguish for the rest of my life. (Of course my stories got even more elaborate, but no need to share them here; I am sure you all know what I mean.)

Read the rest.

Join in Dr. Dan's discussions.

Janelle

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Dust off your golf clubs, pick out your favorite polo shirt, and head down to Cape May, NJ this weekend for the 6th Annual Life Rolls On (LRO) East Coast Charity Golf Tournament on Saturday, September 24 at the Cape May National Golf Club.

The LRO East Coast Charity Golf Tournament will be more exciting than ever with fabulous prizes and tournament surprises to celebrate its 6th annual event! The tournament is one of Life Rolls On's most anticipated fundraisers of the year, as a fun day is had by all -- regardless of your golf score! Golfers are treated to a wonderful day on the course followed by an awards reception on the deck of Harbor View Restaurant. While this entertaining tournament is all about fun, for serious competitors, there are incredible prizes to be won, and of course, bragging rights for winning teams!

Click here for schedule of events and to register.

Watch a video of adaptive golf.

Fore!

Janelle

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Less than 24 hours until the Reeve Foundation's first ever Social Mediathon kicks off! It's like I'm counting down until the opening day of the NFL season or something I'm so excited!

Here's the details:
SEPTEMBER 20, 2011
8AM - 11:59PM (EST)
VIA SOCIAL MEDIA

Okay, so what does that mean to you? If you're anything like the average adult, you probably check your Facebook and Twitter accounts at least once a day. So tomorrow, instead of signing on just to check out the latest photos from the weekend out with your friends, or to see what your favorite celeb is up to, help out the Reeve Foundation, it's all about THE POWER OF WE!

Use this link (bit.ly/powerofwe) to tell the social media world about the Reeve Foundation's mission of "Today's Care. Tomorrow's Cure." We want to raise donations to help the nearly 5.6 million Americans living with paralysis.

Click here for more information.

Donate now, help us get this started!

Janelle


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