Walking with Anthony–Inspiring

Did you know that September is Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month?

I would love to share with you all an inspiring story I came across. This story really touched my heart.

Micki Purcell is an extraordinary mother who started the amazing charity, Walking with Anthony to help families deal with spinal cord injuries.

You see, Micki’s 22-year-old son, Anthony, a part-time model, student, and former high school sports hero, dove into a wave while swimming two years ago and inadvertently jumped into a hidden sandbar, breaking his vertebrae. Unlike other back and neck injuries where insurance is long-lasting, spinal injuries are thought to be too irreversible (and too costly for insurance companies), so Anthony was forced to leave the hospital after only THREE WEEKS, being told to accept that he would most likely be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Luckily, Micki had the finances to explore other routes, unlike many similar families, and they found one of the country’s only places that focus solely on vertebrae/spinal injury recovery, San Diego-based PROJECT WALK. Within weeks, Anthony was showing stunning improvement and realized he was not sentenced to life in a wheelchair and now, two years later, he is able to stand with a walker.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRwfUbXo8MA]

Micki wants to spread the word and give back by changing the health care legislation, letting similar victims know that there are medical treatments they are most likely not aware of, and raising funds through Walking with Anthony to recuperate others from less fortunate economic backgrounds. In the same vein of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Micki is taking a stand!

The first two recipients of Walking with Anthony were paid for out of Micki’s own pocket: one was Rachelle Friedman, who received national attention on primetime news shows and weekly magazines as the bride who became paralyzed when she was jokingly pushed into a pool during her bachelorette party.  The second is Donnovan Hill, the exceptional 13-year-old football player being scouted by college recruiters until he was paralyzed during a game of Pop Warner Football while his family looked on.  Neither could afford the treatment that eventually led them to make stunning improvements in a matter of weeks. Walking with Anthony put together their first annual fundraiser in early April to raise funds and awareness to continue to help others and, with over 18,000 new applicants per year applying for help, they want to spread awareness so that more donors will emerge. A follow-up event is planned for Miami this fall.

 September is National Spinal Chord Injury Awareness Month, and with the Christopher Reeves Irvine Institute’s lead scientist, Dr. Oswald Steward, close to finding a cure through revolutionary research that would regenerate nerves (thanks in part to Walking with Anthony raising 1.5 million dollars for UCI to do the testing), this is truly an exciting and crucial moment in the fight for a cure.