SCI-FIT (Integrative) Therapy Fund

Hello friends and supporters!!!

As most of you know, I was a victim of a hit and run at the age of 22 years old on July 12, 2011, which left me completely paralyzed from the waist down. This event was entirely life-changing for me, and every day I am striving to improve my health, quality of life, strength, and *hopeful* recovery from paralysis!

Before my Spinal Cord Injury I was a very active individual, I went to the gym about 6 days a week, I held two part-time jobs, and had just started going back to school at a community college part-time. I was always on the go, and always working towards a better future for myself. A huge goal of mine, aside from my education and future career, was to lose weight. Losing weight and being in shape physically had always been a number one priority for me, because of how much I struggled with it my entire life. Almost months before the onset of a spinal cord injury, I had finally reached my goal weight after years of hard work. I looked good, I felt good, and I was happy.

Months later, at the age of 22 years old, I was hit by an unknown vehicle while walking in a crosswalk in the early morning hours of July 12, 2011. The impact completely severed my spinal cord, making me a complete T-12 Paraplegic. My life was forever changed that day, and the limitations affected me greatly. For the first 2 years after my injury, I was severely depressed, and I managed to gain almost 100 pounds of extra weight on my body, making it difficult to push my chair and transfer on and off my wheelchair.

After I learned that SCI-FIT opened up a gym in my local area, I immediately started working out and taking advantage of the benefits the facility offered. The adaptive equipment and the one-on-one sessions with specially trained personal trainers finally made it POSSIBLE to improve my quality of life, get stronger, and drop the weight once again. Due to the low percentage of coverage from insurance companies for nontraditional therapy programs such as SCI-FIT, I paid for the therapy out-of-pocket, which proved to be costly. Almost all of the money I had saved went to funding therapy at SCI-FIT, but I was content spending it all on something as important as my health and quality of life. Being forced to quit my therapy because I can no longer afford it is one of my biggest fears. SCI- FIT has helped me regain control of my life and is continuing to do so. Since starting the program, I have experienced the benefits of a 50 pound weight loss, improved strength and muscle, reversed atrophy and improved blood flow in my lower extremities, greatly improved balance, and greater abdominal function. As a result, daily tasks such as transferring, pushing my chair, and getting my wheelchair in the car have become easier for me, thus giving me greater independence and function in society.

But I still have a lot of goals to obtain, including losing yet another 50 pounds, to complete my goal of 100 pounds!! When I started my weight loss and recovery journey, I was nearly 250 pounds at my heaviest, and I have now reached a weight of 190 pounds!! My goal is to continue to lose until I hit the weight of 130 pounds. because of my weight, I am still unable get back onto my wheelchair on my own if I fall out of it. I have experienced times where I was alone, and on the ground and unable to return to my only functional device that allows me to move around. These are the reasons that I still need SCI-FIT and my amazing family of skilled personal trainers fro Spinal Cord Injury Recovery and Fitness.

I am crowd-funding to Continue my therapy at SCI-FIT Sacramento for an entire year. The amount of therapy I hope to receive weekly is a total of 4 hours (4 sessions) per week, which is a total of 16 sessions (hours) per month. This total for an entire month would cost me $1,400 per month at the discounted rate of $87.50 per session, as opposed to the normal $100.00 per session.

the total cost for an entire year of this rate of therapy at SCI-FIT would cost me a grand total of $16,800.

I am forever BLESSED and GRATEFUL for such a loving community of friends and supporters of my recovery, and I plan to *Pay it Forward* to help all my fellow brothers and sisters in my community, country, and even the world when they are in need of my help!!

Please check out my support and recovery page that I am also using to give back to my community by providing encouragement and inspiration to others in their times of need.  Facebook.com/HopeforAmandaBarnes