Spinal Cord Injury Quotes

“I often wished that more people understood the invisible side of things. Even the people who seemed to understand, didn't really.”
― Jennifer Starzec, Determination

“I had learned quickly that life doesn't always go the way I want it to, and that's okay. I still plod on.”
― Sarah Todd Hammer, Determination

“The weekend was a much-needed breath of fresh air; Monday always seemed to not only take that breath right back, but add a few extra pounds to my shoulders as well.”
― Jennifer Starzec, Determination

“The video was still playing, although I didn't know why. It seemed as if the able-bodied dancers were mocking me.”
― Sarah Todd Hammer, Determination

“I was really happy because the doctor had said I would be better by then, and I was ready for this terrible nightmare to be over.”
― Sarah Todd Hammer, 5k, Ballet, and a Spinal Cord Injury

“Before I knew it, I was racing across the highway. For the first time in my life, I didn’t know what to think.”
― Sarah Todd Hammer, 5k, Ballet, and a Spinal Cord Injury

“Before I knew it, I was once again being whisked down the hallways at the new hospital into an even bigger room, one that, unbeknownst to me, would be my home for what would feel like a long, long time.”
― Jennifer Starzec, 5k, Ballet, and a Spinal Cord Injury

“As I sat up I turned my head to the side, but immediately straightened it again when I felt a sharp pain shoot through my neck.”
― Jennifer Starzec, 5k, Ballet, and a Spinal Cord Injury

“Dancing with a spinal cord injury is a challenge like no other, but I aspired to prove to myself that I could still be phenomenal dancer even with an SCI”
― Sarah Todd Hammer, 5k, Ballet, and a Spinal Cord Injury

“But I had already fallen. Fallen into this deep, dark hole. I was trapped. Trapped in this nightmare.”
― Sarah Todd Hammer, 5k, Ballet, and a Spinal Cord Injury

“It seemed like an ordinary day, but little did I know that this wasn’t going to be a normal ballet class.”
― Sarah Todd Hammer, 5k, Ballet, and a Spinal Cord Injury

“Knowing that only minutes earlier I had walked to the car, my mom helped me out and stood me up in the parking lot. My legs collapsed. I could still move them, but I couldn’t walk.”
― Sarah Todd Hammer, 5k, Ballet, and a Spinal Cord Injury

“When the doctors came in a little while later saying they thought they knew my diagnosis, I was afraid to know.”
― Sarah Todd Hammer, 5k, Ballet, and a Spinal Cord Injury

“All of a sudden, my right hand was dead, unplugged, and my left was definitely not working right.”
― Jennifer Starzec, 5k, Ballet, and a Spinal Cord Injury

“A blur. That’s what it felt like to me”
― Jennifer Starzec, 5k, Ballet, and a Spinal Cord Injury

“When it counts, you can be braver than you ever imagined.”
― Mark Berridge, A Fraction Stronger: Finding Belief and Possibility in Life’s Impossible Moments

“Your character is forged by the resolve to try.”
― Mark Berridge, A Fraction Stronger: Finding Belief and Possibility in Life’s Impossible Moments

“Our lives are constantly changing. Every day we deal with disruptions; it is just the extent of the disruption that varies. There are
infinite little self-adjustments that we can make, such as shifting our mood or energy, that help us deal with these disruptions. Just like the suspension of a car helps the car weather bumps in the road.”
― Mark Berridge, A Fraction Stronger: Finding Belief and Possibility in Life’s Impossible Moments

“Visualising somersaulting provides a nice way to think of resilience. It is our ability to sustain forward momentum even when life puts us in a spin. By learning how to engage the power of the tumbling motion, we can steer ourselves even if our turns are not always in perfect control.”
― Mark Berridge, A Fraction Stronger: Finding Belief and Possibility in Life’s Impossible Moments

“Possibility and uncertainty are intertwined. By embracing uncertainty, you let possibility be infinite. By keeping an open mind, and pushing yourself outside your comfort zone by being willing to try and fail, you create possibilities that are unforeseen.”
― Mark Berridge, A Fraction Stronger: Finding Belief and Possibility in Life’s Impossible Moments

“Embracing uncertainty is powerful in two ways:
Firstly, it allows you to find acceptance.
Secondly, embracing uncertainty broadens the horizon of possibility. Think about it in reverse: if we avoid uncertainty, we constrain the infinite nature of possibility.”
― Mark Berridge, A Fraction Stronger: Finding Belief and Possibility in Life’s Impossible Moments

“Our lives are constantly changing. Every day we deal with disruptions; it is just the extent of the disruption that varies. There are infinite little self-adjustments that we can make, such as shifting our mood or energy, that help us deal with these disruptions. Just like the suspension of a car helps the car weather bumps in the road.”
― Mark Berridge, A Fraction Stronger: Finding Belief and Possibility in Life’s Impossible Moments

“Belief is the heartbeat of your journey. It is your guiding angel. Protect and encourage your belief like a good friend, as you use every means possible to reinforce and extend it.”
― Mark Berridge, A Fraction Stronger: Finding Belief and Possibility in Life’s Impossible Moments

“Love connects us with our identity, our embers of normality. It encourages us, replenishes energy and enhances our effort. It gives us focus. It forgives us our failures and picks us up for another try.”
― Mark Berridge, A Fraction Stronger: Finding Belief and Possibility in Life’s Impossible Moments

“Positive feedback reinvigorates effort
and belief.”
― Mark Berridge, A Fraction Stronger: Finding Belief and Possibility in Life’s Impossible Moments