Mallory Weggemann: “The Journey for New Mobility – Against All Odds”

About a month ago I launched my Indiegogo campaign, titled “Against All Odds – The Journey to New Mobility” and it is near and dear to my heart.  This campaign was started to help me achieve my dream of “walking” again with the assistance of customized leg braces and arm crutches.

On January 21, 2008 I went into a medical clinic to receive an epidural injection to help treat back pain, that day I never walked out.  I was just 18, two months shy of my 19th birthday and I was now paralyzed.

In the matter of seconds my world changed, everything I knew for 18 years of my life was flipped upside down.  Since that day I have dreamed of what it would be like to stand at my 5′ 9″ stature and “walk” again, to see my loved ones eye to eye and “walk” towards them. 

This has been a dream that for nearly six years I haven’t been able to shake, and now I am ready to chase it.  This past summer I competed in the 2012 Paralympic Games in London and won Gold in the 50 meter Freestyle and I learned a very valuable lesson in that moment.

No matter what may happen in life, no matter how many times you may be knocked down, you ALWAYS have the ability to get back up and keep fighting, keep dreaming, and to keep striving for more.  This is a lesson that I have learned many times before, but on September 2, 2012 as I sat a top the medal podium and saw our flag raised and heard our National Anthem played in honor of me, it hit me like a freight train.  Just four years earlier I had been paralyzed and on that day I proved that it doesn’t matter how many times you’ve been knocked down, you can always get up and fight.

The fight that I fought for nearly five years was to learn how to move forward with life, cope with the ups and the downs that were sure to come, and physically push my body to new limits when society wanted to tell me that I was “disabled” and at the end of that fight I won, in fact I won Paralympic Gold. 

That day reminded me that no dream is too big, no matter how crazy it may sound to some and that day a new dream was born, a dream I had dreamt for nearly five years, but was afraid to act on, my dream of walking with customized leg braces and arm crutches. Now, I am ready to chase that dream.

I am ready to stand up and fight and show myself and those around me once again, it doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down, you can always get back up and continue to chase your dreams.

I am a month into my campaign, but I can’t accomplish this dream alone, I need your help.  Please visit my campaign below and consider donating to join me in this journey to new mobility, and regardless of whether you are able to donate or not, please help me spread this message far and wide by sharing with your family, loved ones and friends.

Share via Twitter, Facebook, email, etc. and help me make this dream a reality because as my favorite quote says, “A dream you dream alone is only a dream, but a dream you dream together is reality.”

Please help me make this dream a reality, together we can! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support!!

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mallory-weggemann-against-all-odds-the-journey-of-new-mobility

Also, you can continue following my journey of new mobility by following my personal blog below for weekly updates.

http://mallory-weggemann.tumblr.com