Still Me, part two

“It’s like going from 21 to zero, when you first learn to crawl and walk. Now I have to learn to move my body in a whole different way.”

When Janice Wray lost control of her car on Route 95 in Connecticut last year, everything stopped. A 2009 graduate of East Greenwich High School, Janice was in her third year of nursing school at the University of Rhode Island. Now, suddenly, she was paralyzed from her chest down.

“It’s like going from 21 to zero, when you first learn to crawl and walk,” Janice says now. “I have to learn to move my body in a whole different way.” Continue Reading »

The Long Way Home

LAKE CITY – One year ago, Mackenzie Gorden was leading the life of a typical teenager.

As a high school junior, she participated in cheerleading and dance team at South Central Calhoun High School and prepared for the recital at the studio in Carroll where she took dance lessons.

Just weeks after that recital, Gorden’s life changed when she swerved to miss a deer in the road and her truck rolled down a hill off a curvy road south of Lake City.

Gorden sensed something was wrong, but she didn’t know the extent of her injuries.

“I knew something had happened, something wasn’t right,” Gorden said. “I couldn’t move my fingers to reach my phone to call for help. I tried to honk the horn to get someone’s attention.”

Almost two hours passed before she was discovered. Continue Reading »

Paralysed Horse Rider Claire Lomas: I worried I’d never have children

Last year Claire Lomas, who is paralysed from the chest down, was hailed as one of the most inspiring women in Britain when she completed the London Marathon in 17 days with the help of a bionic suit. Unable to feel her feet, she had to look down at every step she took over the 43km route, averaging 2.4km each day, often in the pouring rain.

She’s about to set off on her next physical challenge – a 644km hand cycle ride around England on a fundraising mission for Spinal Research and The Nicholls Foundation. The money she raises will go towards stem cell research. Continue Reading »

On anniversary of accident, paralyzed Severn man hopes for independence

There are moments in time that can forever alter your life. Evan Cronhardt’s life changed its course on April 10, 2008 as he was driving across an intersection near his Severn home. His Jeep was struck by a vehicle that may have been racing on Quarterfield Road.

Evan was thrown from his Jeep, then crushed as it rolled over on him.

He recalls the suffocating weight of of his Jeep and the tracheotomy he endured as paramedics worked to save his life.

When he awoke in a Baltimore hospital, his spine was crushed and his pelvis was broken, paralyzing him from the neck down. He started a long series of operations as doctors tried to repair his multiple broken vertebrae. Continue Reading »

Mark Pollock’s journey from extreme athlete to spinal-cord injury patient

CAMBRIDGE — Mark Pollock was accustomed to facing challenges most people would never dream of when he suffered a setback three years ago that left him broken in body, if not in spirit.

Blind since the age of 22, Pollock, a native of Northern Ireland, had conquered one frontier after another as an extreme adventure athlete. He’d run marathons in the Gobi Desert, in the shadow of Mt. Everest, and by the banks of the Dead Sea. In 2009, he became the first blind man to race to the South Pole on skis, a 22-day trek in temperatures that dipped into the minus-50s. A year later, Pollock co-skippered a boat in the Round Ireland Yacht Race, a grueling, 1,400-mile test of physical endurance and seamanship. Continue Reading »

Aiming high: Young accident victim keeps up his studies and his attitude

BUTTE — Who hasn’t done what Calven Goza did? But unlike so many, Goza paid a steep price.

On May 3, 2012, Goza, a student at Montana Tech, was socializing with friends. It was the end of a long semester, and Goza and a few friends were drinking at area bars. Somewhere along the line, however, things went terribly wrong.

The five friends were traveling east on Highway 43 between Dewey and Divide in a 2003 Grand Prix when the car hit a rock wall on the south side of the roadway. The car went airborne for about 68 feet and rolled several times. Continue Reading »

After injury leaves him paralyzed, an MMA fighter battles still

This is the first in a series of stories about local mixed martial arts fighter Devin Johnson, who suffered a traumatic injury while training for his first professional bout.

The fist catches his cheekbone. He inventories the pain, dismissing it quickly.

Circling his adversary, he stays just wide of the strike zone. Fatigue is setting in. His body aches from days-old blows. But he refuses to quit.

Around him, other fighters are gathering their gear after mixed martial arts (MMA) practice at the Ultimate Fitness gym in midtown Sacramento.

But Devin Johnson has decided to go extra rounds, pushing himself to be in the best condition possible. Continue Reading »

Can you still enjoy sex if you’re severely disabled? This bride-to-be, who has no feeling from the chest down, gives a resounding yes, yes, YES!

Sophie Morgan was left paralysed after a car accident in 2003, aged 18; Has no sensation from the waist down but has no complaints about sex; Sophie thought she’d live in celibacy, and discovered quite the opposite.

When I was invited to write about my sex life, I was hesitant. How much did I want to reveal about something so deeply personal?

I’m no exhibitionist – I do not relish the thought of strangers knowing intimate details of my life. But then I decided, yes, I would do it. Why? Because I realised my reticence was partly due to the fact that the subject of sex for people like me is still taboo. And it shouldn’t be that way. Continue Reading »

BOOK: I Choose to Be Happy: A School Shooting Survivor’s Triumph Over Tragedy

Missy was one of eight students in a prayer group who were shot by a fellow student in the lobby of their Padukah, Kentucky high school. Her fortitude and faith keep her speaking on today’s urgent issues. Continue Reading »

Zina Hermez – Wheelchair in the workplace?

“Are you okay?” my student asked concerned.

“Sure, why wouldn’t I be?” I responded in a confused tone, but I knew why she asked.

“Oh, it’s just…because you’re sitting today,” she started to stutter as her voice got lower almost not claiming what she just said.

As I rolled my wheelchair to the front of the classroom under my desk I assured her, “Oh, yea, I brought my wheelchair today. Continue Reading »