Sep 18, 2024
My Favorite Things
Quinn Brett
It’s September! And as most of you know it is Spinal Cord Injury Awareness month. But did you also know that September is National Wilderness month? Funny, how two of my favorite things are wrapped up in the same glorious, leaf-changing, crisp-morning time of year!
Outside of sharing the same month, there are similarities between spinal cord injury and recreating in Wilderness. When planning an outdoor adventure, you have to plan for the expected and unexpected barriers. Maybe the forecast said rain; the map showed a squiggly line labeled “trail;” the rangers warned about bears; and the online chat forums ranted about the crowds and toilet paper land mines.
You can mitigate some of these scenarios with planning and preparation, but even when you wear the appropriate footwear, a blister just finds a way to rub itself onto your heel; downed trees are strewn all over the trail; the bears will be bears; and our resistance to picking up our own human waste grows exponentially after we make a deposit. So yes, expected and unexpected barriers abound!
Welcome to spinal cord injury! When you enter into this new world, spinal cord injuries’ predictably unpredictable scenarios come in all shapes and experiences. Maybe you work your darndest during physical rehabilitation workouts in the early hospital days, only to discover that your inpatient neighbor - who doesn’t focus on exercise - is regaining function to their arms and legs, while you are experiencing none. You’re clean and tidy with your catheters but are still getting frequent urinary tract infections. And there are tons more hazardous experiences: like not feeling when your legs are too cold, too hot, or your bare foot is hanging off your wheelchair footplate and is scraping on the cement.
Our relationship with this physical world is quintessential to how we live life in it. When you plan a Wilderness adventure, and things are no longer enjoyable or meeting expectations, you can usually switch gears, switch locations, or just call it a day.
Spinal cord injury, on the other hand, is a soaking, loaded down, unpadded, shit-stained backpack you just can’t get rid of, even when you get back to the car. Even when you get home. Even when you wake up the next day to go to your job - if you are lucky enough to have the energy and a job that will accommodate your injury. The secondary issues crammed inside are unable to stay securely inside — hopping out any moment for any reason. Little things, awkward and embarrassing, not only suck motivation and joy from participating in life experiences, they can also become life threatening (pressure sores and sepsis to name just two.)
U2FP exists to confront these barriers to functional recovery head on - utilizing the expertise of folks like me who live with this injury. We understand the deficits of SCI in a way non-injured folks don’t. And our approach is paying off: almost $40M in legislative research funding - chosen by the SCI community - has provided return of function to over 200 individuals with an SCI.
We have an incredible anonymous donor - and a member of the SCI community - who believes so strongly in U2FP’s strategy that they have committed to match all donations up to $100,000 during the month of September. This is a huge opportunity for us to ramp up our education and advocacy initiatives—like our Model Systems and Rehabilitation Outreach (read about it on page 10 of our Annual Report).
We are a third of the way towards our goal - but the month is already half over. Help us catch up and keep pace so that we can meet our target of raising $100,000 by the end of September. Please donate today!
Our voice, our experiences in this world matter. Help us ramp up the pace of spinal cord injury research and continue pushing for both the “little" wins (eg, pain reduction, bowel, bladder, sexual function, etc) as well as the "big" targets (eg, walking).
Join us!
