I have been a vent dependent C2/3 quad for 25 years. Except for two years in college, I've lived in the same small community, attended the same church, and have been a fairly active member of the area.

However, people around me still don't understand why I need 24/7 care. If a night nurse/assistant calls in, then my parents are required to fill the time. We have been asked several times why this is the case, they don't understand that the vent needs monitoring and that I can't reconnect tubes. That and all the other physical needs of turning, suctioning as needed, and the list we all know.

For those around us, I think individual education is best, but more media and knowledge of difficulties, and abilities, in the SCI population could be beneficial.

Before I met my husband (he was already injured when we met) I was very unaware of most of what having a spinal cord injury involves and it doesn't make me mad that people aren't more in tune to what it really means or is like to live with a SCI. Ryan is very selective about sharing the most personal and intimate (the real nitty gritty) aspects of his injury with others making it impossible for people to know what his life with a SCI is like and all the hard work that goes in to helping him live his life as healthy & independently as possible.

I'm not angry that more people don't care, everyone has their own issues to deal with. I'm angry that everyone with a spinal cord injury doesn't have the same access to healthcare and rehabilitation that the Rutgers football player will have.

Here's an update on LeGrand that was published in The Star Ledger a few days ago:

More than a month after an on-field collision left Eric LeGrand paralyzed from the neck down, the Rutgers junior defensive tackle’s spinal cord injury has been deemed "incomplete," which medical experts say brings a more optimistic long-term outlook for recovery.

LeGrand was also taken off a ventilator this week and he is breathing on his own for the first time since he was injured Oct. 16 while trying to make a tackle on a kickoff against Army. He is being treated at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange.

Read the rest.

An Eric LeGrand interview is set to air on ESPN tomorrow, Friday, February 7. This is the first interview since LeGrand's life-changing spinal cord injury in October.

More on the interview here.

I read this article in The Star Ledger this morning and wanted to share it with our community. I am constantly keeping an eye out on any updates/progress of Rutgers' football player Eric LeGrand and I am sure to share them here.

This morning's story was a bit different than some of the other ones I have read. A reporter who had a personal connection to LeGrand unexpectedly visited LeGrand at Kessler. Here's part of the report:

I feel so good about myself right now. I feel so good about life.

Why do I say this?

Because I was inspired by a special young man today.

This afternoon I paid a visit to Eric LeGrand at the Kessler Institute in West Orange.

I didn’t know if it was okay or not to drop in unannounced, but Eric and I, and his mother Karen, go back to when Eric was a sophomore at Colonia High School, so I drove up and took my chances.

I’m so glad I did.

When I walked into the room, Eric immediately flashed his trademark smile and made me feel so at ease. For about two hours or so, we laughed, we prayed and we told some stories.

Read the rest.

UPDATE ON LEGRAND:

From NBC New York:

Paralyzed Rutgers Football Player to Make 1st Public Appearance

Four months after he was paralyzed making a tackle at a game against Army last fall, Rutgers defensive star Eric LeGrand will attend his first public event this weekend.

University sports spokesman Jason Baum tweeted that LeGrand will be attending a comedy performance to support his Believe Fund charity.

In a follow-up phone interview, Baum told NBC New York that LeGrand can now sit up in a wheelchair, and recently made his first return visit to the Rutgers campus to join a team meeting.

"He was in great spirits and he was talking," Baum said.

LeGrand suffered a paralyzing blow to his neck back in October while making a tackle during the Rutgers-Army game.

It is not clear whether LeGrand will speak at Saturday night's on-campus comedy show.

The headliner is Rutgers graduate Bill Bellamy.

Tickets for the event at the Rutgers Athletic Center start at $15 for students, and go up to $50.

Another update on LeGrand I want to share published in The Star Ledger this morning.

... Until that day, life goes on. Spend just an hour with LeGrand, and it’s clear he isn’t going to waste any of that time feeling sorry for himself.

“I’m focused on what’s going to happen next,” LeGrand said in an interview with a small group of reporters Monday. “I’m thankful for what I have now, but you don’t settle for it. You have to keep looking forward.”

So that’s exactly what LeGrand has done. He is finishing up a class called “Blacks in Economics” this week — he uses Skype on his computer to attend class and writes his papers with voice-recognition software — and plans to take two classes this summer and a full course load in the fall.

LeGrand always was known as one of the hardest workers on his teams, the kid who missed just one weight-room session in four years at Colonia High. He figures if he can apply that same work ethic to a career in sports broadcasting, he can live out another of his dreams.

One of LeGrand's ultimate goals is to be a sports broadcaster. I don't know about you, but I would LOVE to see this man on the set of SportsCenter one day!


Read the rest and watch the video!

There has been a lot of talk about changing the rules of football to avoid injuries to players. Specifically, Rutgers' head coach Greg Schiano is hoping to change the kickoffs ruling as that is when one of his player's life was changed forever.

This is Schiano’s plan: Replace all kickoffs with a punting situation, including after the opening coin toss and to start the second half. So, as an example, when Team A scores a touchdown, it immediately gets the ball back on a fourth and 15 from its own 30-yard line.

It can punt it back to Team B — the most likely outcome and a safer play since the bigger collisions usually happen on kickoffs.

Or it can line up and go for the first down, essentially replacing an onside kick with an offensive play that would require more skill than luck.

Onside kicks work about a quarter of the time in the NFL, according to the website advancednflstats.com, a deceptive figure because the play is far more successful when the other team isn’t expecting it. Schiano isn’t sure if going for it on fourth and 15 is a higher percentage play — according to the same website, it’s about 18 percent or 19 percent — but success would be less dependent on a favorable bounce.

Either way, Schiano said, this is the bottom line: “It would lead to much less impact and fewer collisions, but it would still be a way to get the game started in similar field position.”

Read the rest.

Another update... LeGrand isn't slowing down!

From ESPN.com:

PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Paralyzed football player Eric LeGrand will work on the Rutgers Radio Network as an analyst.

Coach Greg Schiano announced the move on Tuesday, saying LeGrand will be on the broadcast for a segment during the pregame show, at halftime and on the postgame show for every game this season.

"I think it's really cool," Schiano said Tuesday after practice. "We're going to get our E-Rock report."

LeGrand will work at High Point Solutions Stadium for home games and call-in to studio when the Scarlet Knights are on the road.

LeGrand began his broadcast career during the Scarlet-White game as the team concluded spring practice. He spent the third quarter calling the action for RVision, the official broadband network of Rutgers Athletics.

LeGrand suffered a spinal cord injury making a tackle on a kickoff return against Army on Oct. 16. The senior continues the rehabilitation process as an outpatient at the Kessler Rehabilitation Center.

Jlo Why is Eric's story anymore important than anyone else who suffers a spinal cord injury? Why do you feel the need to update everything he does and goes through? Why not pick someone who isn't having their story told all over ESPN and share their story. Just because he is on ESPN now he is famous or has an injury that deserves more press than anyone else's. I just wish we would stop glorifying athletes. They get enough!

Hi Joe,

Sorry you feel that way. Every one's story is important, every one has a story.

I personally am just a huge football fan thus I found I took a special interest in LeGrand's story. Working at the Reeve Foundation, I work very closely with the SCI community.  I also believe that he is a great advocate and example of living his life without limits, pushing the boundaries of possibility.

Surely, if you look on other parts of the website we do showcase other SCI members continuously. (Please see here.) If you have any other SCI stories you would like to share, please do so, we believe that every story is unique and we invite you to share yours! :)

Jlo

Thanks for speaking with today.  I hope that my post makes better sense now than before.  I have nothing against Eric, as I am sure he a great kid.  I just despise the system, and how they only take people who "made it" and glorify them.  Anyone who is reading this, please know, that I too broke my neck playing football, was paralyzed c4-c5 and told, "you will never walk again."  I was 14 years old, and had not had an opportunity to showcase my true athletic ability.  I too would look at my Dr's and say I am going to walk again.  Guess what?  I can walk, snow ski, golf, play tennis, and I am still partially paralyzed in my arms and hands.  But because my story wasn't plastered all over ESPN, I'm a nobody.  Kevin Everett of the Buffalo Bills won and ESPY and was on Oprah because he could again.  Yes this makes me very emotional and upset.  It's so very hard to live in a society that glorifies people for physical accomplishments, and to see other people glorified, when they haven't come close to accomplishing what I have.  Then to feel this tremendous guilt because I feel the way I do.  It eats at me core, because I am jealous, and that is what it is, pure jealousy.  Sure I did what they did, I even did a lot more.  So when I read Jlo's post on Eric LeGrand, it set me off.  Sorry Janelle my anger is not at you at all.

Yeah that has ben quite awesome.I have a look.It looks mindblasting and awesome.

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Everyone should know Jarrett Martin. Jarrett was a skydiver and BASE jumper who suffered a horrific BASE jumping accident, that severed his spinal cord. He survived, but is a T5, complete paraplegic. That didn't stop him from doing what he loves - he continues to skydive and BASE jump, and was the first paraplegic to compete in the 2011 and 2012 National Skydiving Championship. He is truly an inspiration for all, and is proof you can continue your passions post spinal injuries.

Check out this trailer for a feature-length documentary about him, titled Sky High: http://www.newfangledstudios.com/site/skyhightrailer/