Josh Basile Potomac, Maryland, United States

C4-C5, August 2004

My life changed forever while on an annual family vacation at Bethany Beach, Delaware. I was standing in waist-high water when I turned my back to the ocean. A single wave picked me up and slammed me headfirst against the ocean floor, shattering my fifth cervical vertebra leaving me paralyzed from the shoulders down.

Through an intense rehabilitation therapy program, known as restorative therapy, I have regained functional movement in my upper body and have transitioned to an incomplete spinal cord injury.

About 10 months after my injury, I began to focus my time on helping others. My experiences and knowledge motivated me to start a foundation. With the tremendous support from family and friends the Determined2heal foundation was launched in June of 2005. The foundation works to help ease and simplify the difficult transition families of newly injured spinal cord injury patients make from normal life to recovery by providing strategic information. I'm a strong believer that through strategic information members of the spinal cord injury community will be given a better fighting chance to benefit from future cures. If you'd like to learn more about the Determined2heal foundation, check out www.determined2heal.org