Yup, he’s on his feet!
Meet the world’s full recovered quadriplegic (now Indy drag racer). Patrick was 21 when he was hurt, now he’s60.
And even though 85% of his spinal cord was decimated, he regained all of his function from activity based restorative therapy. Read this entry
We’ve all had fantasies of going up on stage and rocking out like there‘s no tomorrow. And these guys – two quadriplegics and one paraplegic – all have one thing in common: They’re real bonafide rockers.
So many of us try NOT to get noticed after becoming paralyzed, and what I love about these three dudes is that they may be paralyzed, but they definitely don’t get stage fright.
The first video is of a band in St. Petersburg, Florida called (get ready for it), the Rock-n-Chair band. I know, a bit cringe-worthy name, but…read this entry
Resilient is her middle name.
Chelsie has only been a paraplegic since 2010, and she’s given hundreds of speeches at high schools about her story, and is one of the stars of the reality show Push Girls. Read this entry
Wheelchair skydiving (watch the world’s first paralyzed woman with her solo license), wheelchair paragliding while still IN your chair, and accessible hot air balloons with lifts oh my! Watch these videos
Restaurateur, philanthropist, English Bulldog lover, ex-model, up-and-coming playwright, these are just a few of the titles used to describe Jersey girl Ashley Lauren Fisher, one of the most dynamic C4-5 quadriplegics you’ll ever meet.
What I love about Ashley Lauren is that she isn’t that widely known in the spinal cord injury community, yet she’s one of the most beautiful and hardworking people with a SCI in the country.
When she broke her neck diving into a wave at the Jersey Shore at age 23, her whole life changed, and pre-injury she had A LOT going on. Read this entry
What’s not to love about this zen-filled lady? I always knew Angela was gorgeous, but after watching Push Girls and seeing her live in action it has made it clear as day.
Her amazingly high cheekbones and eyes that could halt an army in its tracks (thanks to her Thai/German descent), make Ms. Angela one of the most beautiful women you’ll ever see. Read all about her
In podcast 89, Tiffiny is joined by Judith Smith, the artistic director of AXIS Dance Company.
She is a C6 quad from a car accident in 1977 and moved on to a life of dance after her injury, much to her own surprise (she was into horse riding growing up, definitely not dance).
They discuss her journey, discovering the healing aspects of integrated dance, how AXIS was founded…
Meet Meg Johnson, the hip/2012 version of the happy-go-lucky housewife and she’s doing in all on four wheels.
Her injury was a wild one; in 2004, Meg leaped onto a boulder that wasn’t stable enough while she was hiking. The fall broke both her femurs, her arms, collar bone and C7 vertebrae (ouch indeed).
Now home and queen of her domain again, Meg is making some of the best how-to videos for quads/wheelchair-users I’ve ever seen. Did I mention she founded the Ms. Wheelchair Utah pageant too? Yeah, she’s all warm and fuzzies.
The adorable Meg lives in a farmhouse in northern Utah (with her just as adorable husband Whit). After returning home, the number one thing she wanted to do (after learning how to put on makeup) was how to do everything around the house again.
Well, mastered it she has, and now she’s sharing her tips in “Meg’s Movies”…read this entry
In episode 13, Mia swims her first meet (and it’s against all able-bodied swimmers), Auti and Eric finally get some deep conversations going on having kids and Tiphany rolls a 5k. And you gotta watch Tiph do her faux chair “run” in Angela’s kitchen.
And good news! Push Girls has been renewed for a second season! (look for it in 2013)
SPOILERS AHEAD ***
The episode begins by checking in with Mia at the pool, whose doing her last practice before her swim meet, and we get another melodramatic over dub of Mia’s story, and she talks about how hard it was to not be able to swim anymore (and now she’s worried about failing).
Her trainer Kevin, who trained several Paralympic athletes, has her doing different turns in the water. He tells the camera she needs to get over her emotional blocks if she wants to succeed.
After she gets out of the pool, she tells him how slow she feels when she’s swimming, which I’m sure is a big change from how it felt before. “I’m still so far from the level I used to be at,” she says. “The meet is only a few days away, but I really don’t feel ready.”
Cody Unser, the daughter of NASCAR racing legend Al Unser Jr., was paralyzed at age 12.
Since her bizarre injury, she has helped lobby for SCI research in DC and is a huge proponent of adapted SCUBA (and the beneficial nerve side-effects!). Read this entry
