On September 24, 1995 my life changed in an instant. I was 23 years old and living in beautiful Southern California. I had a vibrant, beautiful, blond baby boy who was 14 months old. On that Sunday afternoon Patrick and I were walking behind a car when the driver of the car, who was arguing with his girlfriend, suddenly backed his car up. I had just been carrying Patrick when I set him down to walk. The car hit him and pinned him beneath the car.

I remember seeing his blond hair sticking out from beneath the vehicle and I started screaming for help. I ran to the driver’s side of the car and frantically tried to lift it off of Patrick but it wouldn’t budge. I remember seeing two hands grab underneath the car next to mine. Finally the car rose up enough and I was able to pull Patrick out. His body was completely limp and his lips were turning blue. I could feel someone behind be urging me to set him down. They kept telling me it’s just a little cut on his head. But I knew that was wasn't true, there was too much blood. Finally I listened and laid him down on the ground. That same person, a gentleman named Bob Misko who had a refresher course in infant CPR the week before, immediately began to check for vital signs. After finding none he began CPR and mouth to mouth resuscitation on Patrick. After several rounds Patrick began crying faintly. Almost immediately an ambulance showed up and the paramedics took over. Patrick was then flown by Life Flight to Children’s Hospital in San Diego, CA.

Hours later as I waited in the emergency room to find out what had happened to Patrick I was escorted to a back room and told that Patrick had been stabilized and they were taking him to surgery to repair his scalp. He had suffered what is called degloving of the scalp. The doctors still weren’t sure of the extent of his injuries. I thanked God he was alive.

Several days after the accident I remember the doctors coming in and doing a pin-prick test. At first I couldn’t figure out why they would be doing that and then I realized that Patrick couldn’t feel the pins sticking him. I soon learned that Patrick had suffered a C4/C5 incomplete spinal cord injury that day. After 6 weeks at Children’s Hospital the doctors informed us that we would be going home.

Since day one we realized we were given a second chance and that it would not be wasted wondering what if or what could have been.

He and I had a conversation once and I asked him what he would do if he could walk? His response was “If I could walk would I still be able to play wheelchair sports?” Patrick is a very special young man who knows his life is a blessing.

On Christmas Eve 2004 Patrick, his sister Samantha and I went to see Santa Clause. When Santa asked my daughter Samantha what she wanted for Christmas she asked him if he could make her brother walk again. Patrick said “Don’t say that”. But Santa said she could ask for whatever she wanted and he would see what he could do.

Minutes later as we were walking through the mall we met two men in wheelchairs and we all said Hi but continued on our separate ways. We were almost to our van when these two gentlemen came around the corner and stopped us. They started telling us about their organization called Fighting Chair Sports. As the conversation progressed one of the men said “Oh by the way have you heard about Project Walk?” I hadn’t. Project Walk is a spinal cord injury recovery facility, located in Carlsbad, CA. I was very intrigued about the information he was telling me.

I went home and looked up www.projectwalk.org and was amazed at what I was seeing. Many of their clients roll in only to walk out a couple of years later. My heart ached when I realized there was no way I could ever afford a program like this. The average stay is around 3 years at a cost of $90,000.

I mentioned the program to a family friend, Maria Prokop, a few days later. The next day Maria called me and said “Let’s start a fundraising campaign and I’ll help you get it started”. I had never thought of that and jumped at the idea.

Patrick was in the process of being granted a wish from The Dream Factory. They were going to send Patrick, Samantha and I to Hawaii for a week. After visiting Project Walk, Patrick asked The Dream Factory if they would send him there for 6 weeks instead. They immediately agreed and Patrick began attending Project Walk on January 20, 2005.

We began seeing tremendous improvement right away.

Patrick is now 13 years old and focuses all of his energy on his abilities not his disability. He is a Boy Scout and is working towards the rank of Eagle Scout. He plays wheelchair basketball and rugby. He has learned how to kayak, ski and even surf using adaptive equipment. He surfed in 2007 in the US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach on behalf of Life Rolls On. He has even hand-cycled in 6 half marathons.

Patrick is very active in the community and regularly gives speeches on behalf of Rady's Children's Hospital, the San Diego Adaptive Sports Foundation, and Athletes Helping Athletes. He is also an ambassador for Life Rolls On (www.liferollson.org) an organization dedicated to spinal cord injury research which also provides an adaptive surfing program that Patrick is highly involved in. In November 2007 Patrick was nominated "Amazing Kid of the Month" http://www.amazing-kids.org/akom11-07.html#top.

One of Patrick's favorite quotes is "Don't be afraid your life will end. Be afraid it will never begin".