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Spinal cord injury recovery stories can help give you the motivation that you need when you are dealing with a similar injury. You may not have the same results as everyone you read about, but at the same time, you may have more success than others. The only way to find out is to keep up your drive to recover to the best your body possibly can. Reading about how others stayed motivated and what they were able to accomplish is one way to do it.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at a couple of inspiring spinal cord injury recovery stories to give you the motivation you need today.
Denna was playing hockey for one of the very first WNHL (women’s national hockey league) teams, the Boston Pride. On New Year’s Eve in 2015, Denna experienced a broken neck during an exhibition game between female hockey players from the US and Canada.
The initial prognosis was that Denna would never walk again, and it certainly felt that way to her while she was lying on the ground feeling nothing but cold. But Denna was determined. She was also used to spending hours per day in the gym. The difference now – she was fighting for her ability to be independent again.
At first, Denna couldn’t sit up on her own. She couldn’t even lift her arms. However, spending three hours a day, five days a week in the gym, started to rebuild strength and range of motion in her upper body. At eight months, progress was there, but slow. Her fingers and wrists still had very little movement.
It took many months to regain the ability to sit up, but Denna continued to work hard and she began building her core strength. Now she can move her arms much more freely than before. When most people would have given up or decided they have gone as far as they ever could, Denna has remained determined to make every slight gain into a victory and reason to keep trying.
Bobby Carpenter, a former NHL hockey player for the Boston Bruins, texted Denna’s dad for a unique former hockey pro team-up. He would run the Boston marathon, pushing Denna in a specialized chair. The duo inspired many with their performance and helped raise money for SCI research.
Denna may not be on her feet, but she certainly is an inspiration to anyone who has ever experienced a spinal cord injury.
Bryan had been surfing on the California coast when he hit a sandbar and broke his neck. Paralyzed from the neck down, he knew his life had changed forever. Thanks to fast actions by his fiancé, who was at the beach with him, he was able to get rapid assistance from the emergency medical services, and an incredible story of recovery began.
From surgery for a spinal cord injury to months or perhaps years of rehabilitation, an SCI can cause untold expense. Bryan’s inspiring story brought in more than $100,000 in gifts on the site GoFundMe. This allowed Bryan to focus on getting better without worrying about the cost.
His fiancé, Sophia, documented much of the recovery and gifted the video to her now husband on the one-year anniversary of the life-changing injury. In the video, you hear her cheer her boyfriend on as he goes from being able to wiggle his toes to bending his knees to lifting his arms, making a fist, and even feeding himself for the first time after the injury.
You can see the pain on Bryan’s face in many of the videos as he retrains his body to do the things it had no problem performing before the injury. His determination, combined with hearing, “Good job, Bryan!” from his love must have inspired him never to give up.
While it’s not customary for a man to walk down the aisle at a wedding, you can understand why Bryan did after such an incredible recovery. He still has some nerve damage in his hands, and his gait isn’t 100% natural, but the happy couple is continuing to work together on the crazy rollercoaster ride they have experienced the past year.
In southern Florida, iAM ABLE is striving to help SCI survivors to live their best life and reach their full potential for recovery and independence. One of the ways that we do this is by promoting the book 7 Unbelievably Important Steps to Take to Thrive After Paralysis. In this book, you can learn how to adjust to the new challenges and life circumstances that you are facing. At our facility, we also help patients through modern rehabilitation techniques that offer the best results for spinal cord injury survivors. These are just some of the ways that we are assisting SCI patients to thrive. To learn more, download your copy of the book today by clicking on this link. You’re just minutes away from learning how to challenge yourself to be your best, get connected with a community that will be happy to support you, and take care of your needs. The road ahead won’t be easy, but it’s also not impossible – so never give up! It’s time to find your purpose and hope.
Grab our free e-book 7 Unbelievably Important Steps to Take to THRIVE after Paralysis by clicking the image below.
