Paralyzed Athlete Eric LeGrand Signs On as Sportscaster With Bucs

Eric LeGrand is being hailed as an inspiration after he accepted an offer to work as a sportscaster for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The former defensive tackle for Rutgers University was paralyzed from the neck down in October 2010, when he broke two vertebrae in a game against Army — just moments before the game’s end.

Since his accident, LeGrand has been able to stand and walk on a treadmill, with assistance, and he has vowed to walk on his own one day.

A broadcasting major at the New Jersey school, LeGrand resumed his studies in the 2011 spring semester, via video conferences. And in October of that year, he led the Scarlet Knights onto the field before a game in his wheelchair. Continue Reading »

Movement through Words

Javier Robles speaks to Kean students about his experiences living as a quadriplegic!

On March 12th, 2012, the Student Occupational Therapy Association (SOTA) hosted their event Life with a Spinal Cord Injury in the University Center Little Theatre. Javier Robles, a quadriplegic suffered a neck injury at the age of sixteen. Robles fell off a tree in Branchburg Park in Newark, New Jersey and he was found three hours later by his family and was taken to University Hospital in Newark. His first encounter after the accident was with doctors, nurses, physical therapists and occupational therapists. Continue Reading »

Finding ‘The Gift in the Wound’

For Laurie Kammer, Long Process of Healing is Well Under Way

Laurie Kammer, 27, is a daughter, a sister, a dancer, a ukulele player, a graphic artist, a young woman and a friend to many here in town, where she grew up and went to high school, graduating in 2003.

Since June, Laurie has also been paralyzed from the waist down after she fell from a tree in New Jersey.

After graduating from Eastern Connecticut State University with a degree in graphic design, Laurie had moved to New Jersey in 2009 to live with her brother, John, and his wife, Maria. She worked as a nanny for the couple’s two children.

This past summer, on June 9, she and a friend were in a tree house. They were about 15 feet up, she said, when a board she was standing on collapsed. Continue Reading »