Attitude is how we react to life

BONAIRE — There are 541 graduates in this year’s senior class at Houston County High School. A sea of caps and black gowns will fill Reaves Arena on Saturday night at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter in Perry.

By virtue of the alphabet, and also because he is an honor student, Alex Adcock won’t have to wait long to hear his name called.

He will be seventh in line to receive his diploma. Continue Reading »

Fighter, father hangs tough after paralyzing injury

If Michael Jones did it, he knew he’d be spent for the day. He’s a quadriplegic with some sensation and bits of movement. But that morning as his nearly 3-year-old daughter, Liliana, climbed on him in the hospital bed he sleeps in at home, Michael just wanted to be a dad.

So he lifted his arm at the elbow, holding it somewhere between a 45- and 90-degree angle. Liliana threw her weight against his arm, and he pushed her back onto the bed, the way dads horse around with their wide-eyed, apple-cheeked toddlers. Continue Reading »

Pascagoula woman’s determination inspires loved ones, strangers

PASCAGOULA — “When life gives you trying situations, I don’t say, ‘Why me, I say try me.’ ”

That’s the slogan on T-shirts that are being sold to raise funds to help send Katy Blake, a 23-year-old Pascagoula native who suffered a life-altering injury in a diving accident last spring, back to full-time physical rehab. Continue Reading »

Spinal-cord injury hasn’t slowed him down

New doctor helps patients, does research

Like many working parents of young children, south Charlotte residents Jesse and Michelle Lieberman juggle careers and family time.

Jesse, 33, is a physician at Carolinas Rehabilitation and is also pursuing a master’s degree in public health at UNC Charlotte. Michelle, 36, is an occupational therapist in the Carolinas HealthCare System. They are parents to 3-year-old twins, Gracey and Saul. Continue Reading »

Rescue Monkey Becomes Helping Hand After Man’s Accident

Six years ago, Ned Rogers was a 22-year-old college student in Arizona when he was in a catastrophic car accident that left him a quadriplegic and severely brain damaged.

Eventually, Ned was able to return to his home in Concord, Massachusetts, but his mother Ellen Rogers, who has four other kids, needed help caring for him. She turned to Helping Hands, a nonprofit group that trains and supplies monkeys to help the disabled, free of charge. Continue Reading »

Hard work gets a paralyzed bride-to-be ready to walk down the aisle

It was a warm, rainy night, and Mike Belawetz and Jennifer Darmon went for a stroll in a flower garden along the Windsor riverfront in Canada, looking at the Detroit skyline. He walked by her side, hiding a diamond engagement ring.

She propelled herself in a wheelchair.

Belawetz went down on a knee and took out a box with the ring. A man of few words, he didn’t say anything.

“I opened it up and I expected her to figure out what was going on,” he said, smiling. “I didn’t think I had to say anything else, but she squeezed it out of me. She made me ask. So I said, ‘Jenn, will you marry me?’ ” Continue Reading »

Spinal-cord injury won’t stop local woman

‘You almost don’t even believe it when you see it. It’s amazing — the little recoveries that propel you forward’

AUSABLE FORKS — The night Michaela Bushey wiggled her toe, her mom, Angela, called everyone she could think of.

“We called the whole North Country,” Michaela said.

After all, was a “huge, thrilling” step in her daughter’s recovery.

Michaela, 20, of AuSable Forks was paralyzed when she hit her head while diving into a pool on July 4, 2010, and people from all over the area have been following her progress. Continue Reading »

Teen overcomes and pushes forward

Like several of his classmates getting ready to graduate in June, John Demcovici ponders what tux to wear to the prom, works through his classes this final semester, and waits patiently for his college admission letters.

However, for John, all of those milestones will be done from a wheelchair, and the first real hurdle of the spring will be getting through the anniversary day of the accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Continue Reading »

Young woman turns tragedy into triumph

International Women’s Day: Quinn Page Smith devotes life to community accessibility

Turner Valley resident Quinn Page Smith was only 15 when she was faced with one of the most difficult experiences of her life.

In 1996 Page Smith, then a teenager attending Oilfields High School in Black Diamond, suffered a major spinal cord injury resulting from a car accident. The injury left her paralyzed from the waist down.

The community rallied to provide support and care for the young woman as she battled to recover so she could graduate high school with her friends. Continue Reading »

Cooking with Cory

In the face of adversity, Cory Parsons not only committed himself to his recovery, but to helping others similarly reach for their dreams.

A motivational speaker, sports advocate and athlete, the Nanaimo resident has recently added cookbook author to his list of titles.

More than just a cookbook, Cooking with Cory: Inspirational Recipes for the Fearless Cook (published by North Vancouver’s Whitecap Books), references Parsons’ personal story of resilience. Twelve years ago, his life took a turn when, at age 23, he had a diving accident. While he’s come to terms with his life-changing spinal injury and made incredible gains, it’s been a tough road. Continue Reading »