Paul's Journey Forward

As some of you may know, almost one year ago,  Paul Morrison had a huge life changing event. A fall that left him paralyzed from the chest down and changed his life forever. It has been a long, hard year and now we are moving onto the next phase of recovery and Paul's Journey Forward!

With millions of dollars worth of specialized equipment and highly skilled trainers, the Journey Forward physical rehabilitation facility is his ticket home. The training intensity is comparable to that of military drills, but proven to be immensely effective. The only downside is that insurance and Veterans Affairs do not cover this type of rehabilitation and at $600 to $800​ ​per week​ ​with​ ​no income,​ ​Paul​ ​is​ bound to run out of his savings quickly.  Add insult to injury, his beloved Honda fit with 160k miles is beginning to break down, which means that Paul will likely be needing to get new wheels too!

I know many of you have helped or have been helping over the last year and he is more grateful than you will ever know. Previously​ ​donated​ ​funds were used to help Paul settle into a new wheelchair accessible apartment and take care of living necessities, a hospital bed and other​ ​accessible​ ​equipment.


Unfortunately, the need is still there to​ ​help Paul​ ​make it through this final (hopefully) stretch of recovery. His physical and mental strength prior to the accident could be credited for substantial progress in his recovery, not to mention his stubborn determination. As he's looking forward and hoping to walk one day, but even more importantly, when he has the opportunity to see his beautiful daughter on weekends, he dreams of doing all of the active outdoorsy things they enjoyed together​ ​before his injury.

So far, his progress consists of​ ​sensation to touch, activating random leg muscles,​ ​​wiggling his right foot and toes. He has even gone as far as pushing his foot down when it’s held up!​ ​The left side isn’t quite as eventful,​ ​but there is still some small movements here and there and he’s remaining very hopeful for many more to come.​ ​On his very first visit to the rehab center, Paul was connected to an electrical nerve stimulation machine and shocked the trainers with unusual results. With minimal levels of stimulation, just to show Paul what the machine would feel like, Paul executed the complete task of sitting fully upright from a position of having his head on the knees and hands on the ground!

With his undying perseverance, hard work and our financial support, Paul has a very tangible chance to walk. So far he has consistently exceeded goals set by his doctors and has beat the odds stacked against him.  He just needs us to chip in to help him ​get over the finish line. ​In his always cheerful and positive mood, he promises to visit and dance with each of his supporters as soon as he's able! He's also showed me the exact roof where he'll throw a giant party for all of us to celebrate!

If you know Paul, you know he's extremely generous and would give you the shirt off his back without hesitation. Let's do the same for him and get Paul back on his feet! :)