They had their dream wedding and knew their lives were changing forever. Just not in ways they, nor anyone, could ever expect.

Three days after the wedding, while on their honeymoon, Michelle and Alfredo were at the beach. As they entered the water side by side, Alfredo decided to dive forward when the water was thigh deep. This dive changed life instantly.

Unknowingly to Michelle, Alfredo immediately became paralyzed from the neck down. He hit his head on the sandy ocean floor which seemed to get deeper but, instead, became shallow. Instantly he knew something was wrong when he tried to flip his body but couldn’t, as he floated face down at the surface of the water.

Alfredo broke his neck suffering a spinal cord injury.

He tried to push his arms, kick his legs, twist, and turn. Nothing. It seemed like an eternity while he fought to hold his breath, hoping Michelle would soon realize something was wrong. It only took a couple of minutes until she reached him. Unfortunately before Michelle did, his lungs inhaled with an uncontrollable spasm. What should have been filling with oxygen, filled with ocean water.

This was the first series of events which would take two people on a journey, which included an international life flight, intensive care, and seizures. But most importantly, a search for a way to maximize his health and increase his potential to recover.

During this search they quickly discovered a gap. A gap between traditional therapy, and achieving his full potential in terms of health and recovery.

But through these trials and tribulations only good has come out of this unfortunate accident. Both have dedicated themselves to helping those in similar situations.

With this goal as their focus, they founded iAM ABLE.

It is the mission of iAM ABLE to provide survivors of spinal cord injury (SCI) and paralysis with various wellness programs and knowledge that will maximize their health, understanding, increase independence, and potential of recovery.

iAM ABLE focuses on helping clients reclaim their lives by providing intense, exercise based health and fitness programs designed to increase function and maximize independence. By raising public awareness of spinal cord injury (SCI) and paralysis, iAM ABLE builds a community to support through specialized training, networking, experience sharing, and family support.