Ali Stroker is a ball of energy. It is exhausting just being in the room with her. Ali came by our offices the other day for a meet and greet because she is going to be a Reeve Foundation Ambassador.

She is 21, and was paralyzed in a car accident at the age of 2. She just graduated from the Musical Theatre Conservatory at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. She could be the next big thing on Broadway. Continue Reading »

BURLINGTON — A team of disabled athletes using hand cycles will ride in the fourth annual Kelly Brush Century Ride on Sept. 12. Team Ride-On members aim to raise money for adaptive equipment so others like them get the chance to participate in sports.

“The Kelly Brush Century Ride is a perfect opportunity for us to give back to the disabled community and to highlight the value of sport for the disabled,” said Patrick Standen, president of the board of the Northeast Disabled Athletic Association and Team Ride-On leader. “One hand cycle can cost $5,000 or more, and, for many people, that becomes a barrier to participation.” Continue Reading »

Filmed & edited by Dr. Diana Wehrell-Grabowski. Life Rolls On Foundation is a non-profit organization that exists to be a grassroots resource that provides help and is an advocate on behalf of young people whose lives have been affected by spinal cord injuries. Continue Reading »

For an injury to be considered catastrophic, it must occur without any warning. It must also disrupt your life is some way, whether by inhibiting you from working a full-time job or by keeping your from experiencing your life in the way you had previous to the injury. It takes a lot to manage this kind of injury. It often takes several health care professionals and experts to tend to the injured as they go from the hospital to rehab and back into their community and home.

The financial burden that falls on the injured nearly always requires that they find a good injury attorney to make their life a bit easier. These attorneys work closely with professionals in the health care industry as well as rehabilitation medications. Continue Reading »

K. Eric Larson and a few pals had planned a mountain climbing trip to Mount Rainier when the idea hit him: turn the trip into a fundraiser for spinal-cord injuries and call it “Climb for a Cause.”

Larson, a graduate of Henry-Senachwine High School, had a public-relations business in the Chicago area with a niche in hospitals and health care. He’d also been volunteering for the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, that readily agreed to the fundraiser and accepted nearly $15,000 when he returned from Seattle.

“That climb had a lot of impact on me personally. It was the most physical thing I’d ever done,” Larson said. “I thought, ‘I want to do something more with this.’” Continue Reading »

“It’s all kind of freedom on those skis,” said Mark Bugha, 28, from Finleyville in Washington County. “It’s special for me because I never experienced that kind of freedom before.”

Mr. Bugha has cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder, and has used a wheelchair all his life.

“Any time he gets out of that chair, it’s good for his back,” said his mom, Norma. “He doesn’t feel disabled when he’s doing these things.”

This is the 19th year that Three Rivers Adaptive Sports has held a water skiing clinic at Conneaut Lake in Crawford County; it’s the 17th that Mr. Bugha has attended. Continue Reading »

Autonomic Dysreflexia (AD), also known as Hyperreflexia, is a potentially dangerous complication of spinal cord injury (SCI). Continue Reading »

My Breath My Music

The Magic Flute, a wind instrument which allows you to play music with head movement. The Magic Flute was originally designed as an adaptive musical instrument for people with little or no arm movement — with the goal of allowing people with a wide range of disabilities the ability to perform live electronic music that can be at the highest professional quality. It is also an exciting and rewarding way for people who have limited lung function to carry out Breathing Exercises that will never become tedious to them.

Syracuse, NY — The Syracuse VA Medical Center has opened a new outpatient rehabilitation clinic and a prosthetics lab to serve the growing number of soldiers coming home from war with injuries.

The clinic and lab will support the VA’s long-awaited spinal cord injury center. Construction of the 30-bed inpatient unit, part of a six-story $78 million addition, is expected to begin in September. The VA expects to award the construction contract for the project in the next few weeks.

The rehab clinic is five times larger than the VA’s old clinic and is staffed by seven physical therapists. It provides exams to veterans with spinal cord injuries and other problems. Continue Reading »