When people think about a spinal cord injury, they think about the moment everything changes. They think about the accident. The hospital. Learning how to live a completely different life. What they don’t think about is what happens 30 years later. Because the truth is, a spinal cord injury isn’t a one-time event. It’s something that keeps evolving. And aging with it brings a whole new set of challenges that no one really prepares you for. For a long time, I had things figure

By 2020, I had finally reached my breaking point with the pain in my shoulders. For years, I had dealt with the aches and wear-and-tear that come with living in a wheelchair. Transfers, loading my chair into the car, pushing everywhere I went—it all added up. But the pain was getting worse, and numbness had started creeping into my hands. I knew it was time to find answers. I made an appointment with an orthopedic doctor in Frisco and explained everything that had been going

Growing up, I never had a particularly close relationship with my father. After my accident, the distance between us only grew. Looking back, I think part of it was because he blamed himself for what happened to me. Whether it was the stress of my injury, years of unhealthy habits, or simply bad luck, about eight months after my accident he suffered a series of mini strokes. His health declined quickly. He lost his job and spent most of his days at home. A few years later, wh

In the summer of 1995, just before my senior year of high school, I found myself facing a big decision: where was I going to college? My father had a very strong opinion on the matter. He informed me that after spending fourteen years and countless dollars on gymnastics, I owed him a college scholarship. The problem was, I was completely burned out on gymnastics. I still loved being active, but my heart had shifted toward cheerleading. Earlier that summer, I attended a cheerl

Wow, y'all. It's not even the end of January, and somehow I've already done something I never thought I'd do. I wrote a book. A whole book. Okay, maybe not a giant novel that's going to rival War and Peace, but I finally sat down and put my life story on paper, and I'm incredibly proud of what I've accomplished. The whole thing started when I began seeing a new therapist. During one of our first sessions, after I told her about some of the traumatic experiences I'd been throu

It’s been quite a while since my first post and I’ve wanted to start this next one for months, but I’ve been going through some stuff. I...

Welcome to my first blog post! Ironically, this wasn't supposed to be a blog post at all. I was attempting to write the "About Me" section for this website when I realized I had already written way too much. Apparently, I have opinions. And stories. Lots and lots of stories. So here we are. My name is Suzanne. I'm 39 years old (and actively pretending 40 isn't lurking around the corner), recently engaged to an amazing man named Johnny, and living in Frisco, Texas with our dog