Cindy Donald Foundation — Dreams of Recovery

Dear Cindy Donald Foundation,

On behalf of a small group of individuals from New England, whom will all benefit from this Total Gym, I/we would like to thank the Cindy Donald Foundation and their supporters for their generosity.

After reading the bios and stories of how your previous recipients met their fate on your website, I feel as if those stories were all about us, how we got hurt and how much it changed the lives we had once known.  It makes sense, after all paralysis much like a disease is a non discriminatory condition that blind sides it's victims and feeds off their independence.  An injury that inflicts whomever it wants with no justifiable reasoning of whom and why.

However, through all of the loss, heartache and despair, there is a trend of remarkable characteristics of the human condition that seem to prevail through such adversity.  From acute rehab to everyday life within the SCI community (which at times feels like an exclusive fraternity) people are generally good, they care for one another and when times are bleak they join together and push one another along.  All of which are characteristics eloquently epitomized by those like Cindy Donald and her Foundation.

Luckily, I have been fortunate enough to have found a group of likeminded people here in New England (MA & NH).  A group of individuals brought together by the same vision of overcoming the obstacles that have been placed before them.  A cornerstone of hope, encouragement and support within the surreality of life with a spinal cord injury.  For our group, having access to physical therapy is a major component of overcoming those obstacles both physically and psychologically.  After all, living with such a condition is as much of a mental game as it is a physical one and staying on top of that game is the number one priority for self-preservation.

At the end of the day, we have realized that life is more or less a matter of perspectives.  Those perspectives can be invigorating or demoralizing - depending how you see your pint - half full or half empty.  With that said, our group is built of incurable optimists that generally see their pints as 'half full'.  However, these perspectives are not soley based upon our own intuition or resolve, but from the kindess, support and generosity of people and organizations like Cindy Donald and those that empower her foundation.

Thank you all so much!

Sincerely,

Chris Boshar, Alex Bedard, Nate Bibaud, Chris Dufour, Erin Crossman, Krisitn Lee, Tim Morris and Steve Shope