Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!
I had a great time spending several days in the Raleigh area and seeing friends and family. I have been keeping pretty busy with therapy and working on things for The Walk On Foundation. If you have not already, I ask you to please like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. You can just click the logos you see on the website to do so and don’t worry! I only post things 1-2 times a week tops so if you follow or like us it will not dominate your news feed. Also please ask your friends and contact to do the same.
I do have some things planned for 2014 I am pretty excited about that I will announce closer to the dates and once the details have firmed up. In the meantime, my plans are to create awareness and do grassroots fundraising for spinal cord injury therapies via word-of-mouth and social media. My hope is to make a big difference by getting a large amount of small donations from many contributors. I also plan to apply for some corporate gifts and I have some leads on some names of folks who could also help me gain some additional press.
I have been keeping busy with my weekly workouts at Race To Walk as well as doing my home therapy and working on the foundation. I am also working on finding a JOB! I have worked some since my accident and was lucky to have a very accommodating job for a while in Atlanta and I am trying to find something here in Charlotte also. I have been applying for some part-time jobs as well as some full-time. I would really like to end up in some type of medical sales position whether it is selling medical equipment or supplies or even pharmaceutical. I have gained a lot of medical knowledge and formed many relationships with doctors and therapists since my accident that I would like to put to use in a career. I am also working on a certification that should help me get into the industry.
Also of note is the fact that I finally took my first post-accident flight in late October. It was something I have kind of been avoiding and putting off over the last few years. Of course it was not as bad or as annoying as I thought and I am glad I have gotten that first time out of the way. I was the first one on the plane and the last one off. Getting on first was fine but being off last was a bit frustrating since several people in the back of the plane took forever to get off and I and the flight attendants could not figure out what these folks were doing. Also the gate coming back to Charlotte was quite possibly the furthest one from baggage claim so wheeling that long mostly uphill way was not very fun for my shoulders.
I flew to NYC to visit my friend and former teammate Carl Lentz. I had a great time seeing his family as well as his church family at Hillsong NYC. I had been up to see him once before but this was my first trip solo and involving airports. I could not have asked for anyone to make it any easier on me. They really took care of me and treated me so well that I hated to leave. We went to a NY Knicks game, a few dinners, got haircuts and just hung out over the few days I visited. On Sunday I got to see Pastor Carl preach at four of six services that they hold on in Manhattan on Sundays. Watching Carl has been just amazing. He is really good at what he does and has a unique ability to connect and impact all types of people. I invite you all to watch the message I watched Pastor Carl give that Sunday I hope to make a return trip once it warms up next year.
I do not know if anyone realizes it, but I just hit the five year anniversary of my accident. A friend of mine text me knowing that we were very close to my accident date but she thought it was year four. She told me how far I had come and how proud she was of that. I replied back saying thanks but that it is actually five years but I that I have basically only been out of bed for about four years on this recovery journey. I have tried to continue to not let that consume my life so much by trying to further my education and working to try to figure out a new career. I know I will not give up on getting back on my feet but I do continue to diversify my focus.
It is crazy that Christmas is only a few days away. I hope that everyone enjoys Christmas and gets to enjoy some time with friends and family. I will be headed to the Raleigh area for a few days and look forward to seeing friends and family and hopefully an NCSU win or two in basketball. I also want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and look forward to sharing some things with you in 2014.
Thanks, as always, for your continued interest and support!
