Angelique Novak Andover, Minnesota, USA

C1 and C2 = ventilator dependent quadriplegic, August 1994

My spinal cord was injured when I was hit by a car driven by a negligent driver while crossing the street on my bike. I was 13 and was expected to be DOA.

I'm currently 25, and dependent on everyone else, for all of my needs. How I would love to experience real life first-hand...

Spinal cord injuries, (SCI), are random and happen to anyone at any time. They steal your life away. Making it so much harder to not only, "live," but to survive life as a ventilator dependent quadriplegic. More people are surviving the initial injury to their spinal cord that renders them ventilator dependent and quadriplegic. It's terrible waking up in the hospital, finding out that all you knew and thought about your life is gone, and changed dramatically.

There isn't enough room here to list all of the things that are lost to a SCI, nor is there enough room to list all of the things that change because of a SCI. At best, it can be tolerable. But it's hard to get to the "tolerable" place. Most of the time it's beyond miserable, 24/7.