Gun Violence and Living with a Spinal Cord Injury
Living with a spinal cord injury through gun violence is an issue that is plaguing many urban communities throughout the United States. Injuries through gun violence has been steadily increasing over the years. This topic is very important to me because 18 years ago, I suffered a spinal cord injury due to gun violence. As a result of this, I know firsthand of all of the challenges that lies ahead both physically and emotionally. Too often, we hear about shootings but we never dive into what occurs to the victims that suffer these traumatic injuries due to gun violence. For many individuals like myself, our lives are altered forever.
Becoming injured at 17 as a result of gun violence was very difficult for me. I remember laying down in the hospital bed thinking that my life was over; being told you may never walk again can be very demoralizing. In fact, many people can go into a deep depression after they learn about their new abilities. One of the important skills I had to work on was my confidence to be able to be vulnerable to discuss what it truly is like living with a spinal cord injury. Most people assume that living with paralysis only comes with not being able to walk. However, there are many secondary conditions that develop because of a spinal cord injury that are difficult to deal with. Urinary tract infections and issues with your bowels are also direct results of a spinal cord injury. These are just two of the many challenges that come with living with a spinal cord injury and in my opinion, these are worse than actually not being able to walk.
I am dedicated to bringing awareness to gun violence; I do this by going around to schools/community centers and speaking with individuals from communities with high rates of crime. I believe that the only way to bring awareness is by having people see firsthand what guns do to others. Since my injury, I have been committed to bringing awareness to how firing a firearm not only affects the victim but their families as well. For many individuals, after they suffer a spinal cord injury, their family or their support system have to pick up a lot of the pieces. Whether that is paying bills on their behalf or helping them take their first bath - there are many issues that people are not typically always prepared to do so suddenly.
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Surviving gun violence had a variety of effects on my life. For all the down or hard times, there are plenty of extraordinary goals that I have accomplished. Living with paralysis is difficult for anyone. Some of the goals that I accomplished since my injury was being able to connect with many other amazing people with traumatic injuries like mine. Because of my injury, I was able to go to school for free and earn my degree. I have also started and participated in gun violence support groups, which provides others like myself with a sense of community.
I am also an accomplished athlete being a Team USA Paralympic powerlifter. Being on Team USA and competing in the sport of powerlifting gives me a platform where I can show the world that you CAN be strong after your injury.