In August 2016, I had a very traumatic – as my parents would definitely describe it – life-changing experience. I had a serious car accident. I was in Athens, Greece preparing to go on vacation to one of our beautiful islands. It was a sunny and warm day, although the only thing I remember after I lost control of my car was looking at the sky and not being able to move. I couldn’t understand the pain because of all the adrenaline in my body. I remember strangers holding my hand and myself crying by the idea I wouldn’t walk again. I couldn’t feel my legs. I ended up with multiple injuries all over my body. The most serious ones were a fracture of the top bone (C1) in my spine (named “Atlas” after the Greek Mythology because it supports the head), a femoral fracture and an open fracture in my knee which caused multiple muscle injuries in the area. Besides those, I had some smaller fractures, blunt abdominal trauma, contusion of thorax and ligament injuries. It took surgeries, in-and-out of hospital time, physiotherapies (months of it), a lot of support from my family and friends and massive motivation, positivity, and willingness by me to walk again. Imagine how long it took me to start running again. The first time I tried to jog was one year and a half after this day. Running is my way of escaping – just tune out of my routine. It’s a form of freedom – and all I need is my legs and the ability to move them. 

More than 50,000 people in the UK and Ireland are living with paralysis caused by spinal cord injury. Imagine how many more around the world. Spinal Research a leading charity (voted 3rd best small charity in the UK) funding research in order to develop effective treatments and ameliorate the life of all those who were not as lucky as me and had more serious injuries in their spine. 

This is my first half-marathon and I want my steps to make a difference to someone's life. JustGiving is a completely safe way of donating money straight to Spinal Research. Please consider supporting me in my first try! The smallest amount can make a massive difference. 

Thank you! 

Dafni