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Channels: Health - Disabilities
March 18th, 2010
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Step It Up
Views: 979Added: Thu. Sep 03, 2009 9:35am
Posted in: Disabilities
Next week, I'll be participating in a Walk-n-Roll-a-Thon to benefit Step It Up Recovery at Crane’s Roost Park in Altamonte Springs on September 12, 2009 (walk starts at 9am, registration at 8:15am). If you would like to donate, you can send a check to Step It Up Recovery Center, Inc, 508 Central Park Drive, Sanford, FL 32771, visit the website and use the donation button, or send money to me via paypal to sponsor my walk – sherisaid at bellsouth.net. If you're local, come on out and look for me. I'll be right next to the loveliest girl you'll ever see in a wheelchair.
Left to right: my daughter Marissa, Amanda, friend Lindsay
Two years ago, my daughter's best friend Amanda was involved in a terrible accident. She was a passenger in the car and her spine was severed. Amanda is a sweet, beautiful girl, and she was barely 18 at the time. I remember getting the news…my daughter Marissa took the call on her cell phone. The blood drained out of her face and she turned to me with stricken eyes. "We have to go," she said. "Amanda's in the hospital. They think she's paralyzed". I refused to believe it. I told her that it might not be true, you know how rumors are. I told her to not drive herself crazy until we see Amanda and find out what's really going on.
But it was true. We found out firsthand at the hospital. Amanda lay swaddled in layers of blankets because after the accident, her body could not regulate its own temperature. She had massive swelling and bruising on her forehead and she couldn't move a muscle below her neck. Still, true to her nature, she was happy to see us. She was on a lot of drugs, of course, but to this day she remains positive and…well…just like herself.
a few days after the accident
Amanda's brain was not damaged. She has regained partial use of her arms and a few of her fingers. Her mother, Liza, has been amazing through all this. She became a tireless powerhouse of proactive care, doing everything she can to help Amanda get back on her feet. They found out about Project Walk and visited 3 times in a year, raising 30K each time with fundraisers and donations. Each trip, twice to California and once to New Jersey, was difficult, but they felt it was worth it. Project Walk has had some amazing results.
Amanda working her trainer at Step It Up
Liza eventually decided to open a facility here in Florida. But it's not easy to raise enough money to buy the necessary equipment and keep the doors open. She needs help, and I've volunteered to join the cause. I would do anything for Amanda. She is far more than a friend, she has been part of our family for about 8 years, since she was 12.
clients and family members at Step It Up
Modeled on Project Walk in Carlsbad, California, a facility that uses the Dardzinski Method of physical therapy, Step It Up Recovery is located in Sanford, FL, near the Seminole Town Center Mall, off highway 46. They can be reached at 407-878-3757.
It takes a lot of dedicated people around spinal injury patients to help them find the joy in life again. Amanda says this surfing video is embarrassing, but I can see she had fun.
Life Rolls On Event New Symrna Beach, FL
