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Bob Spina and myself, Derrick Edwin, set out this past weekend to compete in the 4 x 4 x 48 challenge (run 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours).
The purpose of this challenge was to be able to support a worthy cause all while testing our physical limits. Bob and I really weren't sure what cause we wanted to support until the 11th leg of this challenge.
Allow me to introduce you to Norbert Holowat who saw our posts on Strava and reached to us to see if he could join us in support us for that 11th leg. I met Norbert through my LITC coach Jose Lopez and my life has been changed ever since.
Norbert is in a wheelchair.
Less than 2 years ago he had an accident in which he suffered a spinal injury that has left him with limited use of one arm & paralyzed from the waist down.
Norbert is no different than us he is an athlete looking to improve his craft.
Thanks to one of his mentors Peter Hawkins, he can. Peter has donated his time and equipment to help Norbert achieve his goals. Norbert, appreciative of the support he has received, would like to pay it forward and has created the New York chapter of the IM ABLE Foundation to help athletes like himself by raising money to help cover the expenses of competing.
Norbert contacted me to ask if we would mind if he participated in the 11th leg with us. He wanted to come out and show support for both Bob and myself. He showed up super early so he would not make us late and for the first time was able to fit himself into his race wheelchair unassisted!! When I asked why he did not wait for one of us to help him his reply was simply I am going to have to start doing this by myself at some point right? When the 11th leg was complete we accompanied Norbert back to his car. Watching what we considered challenges to be his daily routine. It made Bob and my 4 x 4 x 48 struggles seem insignificant. Even with all these obstacles Norbert oozes positive energy and his smile warms your heart. It was at that moment we knew this was our purpose. We wanted to help Norbert raise money for the IM ABLE Foundation's New York Chapter, Still Standing. I choose to surround myself with those who push me to do better. Norbert is one of those people.
Thank you to all who supported this challenge and continue to support by donating to this worthy cause.
On July 5th, 2019, I had my accident. I was jumping into a pool like I had done hundreds of times before, but this time was different, I misjudged where the shallow end of the pool was.
The force and angle of my head hitting the concrete broke my neck, fracturing my C6 and C7 vertebrae.
Little did I know it, my life was changed forever.
In the hospital there were a lot of people with your level of injury conversations that weren't exactly promising. It was easy to shrug it off laying in bed, but when I came home reality sank in and the severity of my limitations hit me with full force.
The first few months at home were the darkest point in my life. I was completely lost, without purpose. I eventually became tired of all the negative thoughts. I had to make a change.
I took the piece of paper that was my old life, crumpled it up and threw it in the garbage, and started a new page.
For some reason or another something clicked when I thought of mental strength, endurance athletes. I decided I needed to prove to myself that Im stronger than my injury.
Training became like therapy to me. It gave me something to look forward to.
But I want my life to be bigger than a race. I want to expand the possibilities that IM ABLE is creating by adding a New York chapter, Still Standing. To give back to the community of adaptive athletes. My life was changed by all of the donations that I have received, I believe it is my responsibility to pay it forward, no matter what.
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