SCI Life: April 2016


Back In a Different Kind of Saddle

“The only difference between you and me,” says 23-year-old Eric Saunders to friends and new acquaintances, “is that you put on sneakers in the morning, and I get in my wheelchair.” This quote perfectly exemplifies how Saunders has dealt with his 2010 motocross crash that changed his entire world and introduced him to a new sport he now loves.

Eric Saunders poses with a young fan.
Eric Saunders poses with a young fan.

Saunders, from Lakeville, Indiana, was a rising motocross racer with big-name sponsors like Tony Stewart Racing and Bass Pro Shop. Then came a heartbreaking accident — he crashed on his backyard track a day before his 18th birthday. “It was a jump I had done several times before, but I somehow landed sideways.” Welcome to the world of T4-5 paraplegia.

Fortunately, being from a very active racing family, Saunders was able to try out a new style of racing — mini sprint — with his family’s support after his injury. “It’s all I know,” he says about returning to racing. Mini sprint cars are perfect to be adapted for people with spinal cord injuries. A 600cc street bike engine is put into a smaller race car chassis, and each car is custom made by its owner.

Since venturing out into the mini sprint world as a paraplegic, Saunders has noticed something very uplifting — his colleagues accept him fully. “The other racers don’t treat me any differently. They just always tell me that they could never do what I’m doing,” he says with a grin. It took a couple of years to excel at it, but in 2015 alone, he won six feature races. But that’s not why he’s racing again — he has a higher purpose.

“My goal with racing is to show people that just because you have a disability, it doesn’t mean you have to stop doing what you love.”

Check it out: facebook.com/ericsaundersracing/

pants_up_easy

A Life Changing Lift

We all know how long it can take to get dressed when you can’t stand up, which is why Pants Up Easy is one of those products that definitely belongs in the “Why hasn’t this been thought of before?” category.

An original device not yet covered by insurance, Pants Up Easy minimizes how long it takes to get your pants up. The user backs up to either a free-standing or a wall-mounted unit and puts their arms over supports that clamp below their armpits. This allows just enough lift to elevate their body, leaving their hands free to pull up their pants.

The device reportedly shrinks the time to accomplish the task to just seconds. Pants Up Easy is best suited for paraplegics and some low-level quads. For pricing and more info, visit www.pantsupeasy.com.

Serving Up Quad Realness

Ryan Atkins was living the so-called perfect life — 21, a junior honors student on a full-ride scholarship to the University of Cincinnati — when he became paralyzed at C3-4 in a car accident. Now 27, he went on to graduate last December, works in commercial real estate and is engaged to be married in November.


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