Tell Me Something Good--Determination, Love, and Hope

photo courtesy of abcnews.go.com

Determination, hope, strength, love, and teamwork played a crucial part in the recovery of Janne Kouri. “Instantly I could tell I was paralyzed,” Kouri said, in reference to his August 2006 accident. He dove into the ocean in California and hit his head on a hidden sandbar. Just floating in the water, he recalls getting flipped over on his back, unable to move, waves crashing over him. By chance, an off-duty EMT had passed by and brought Kouri to safety. Luckily his life didn’t end, but he was told that he would never walk again.

Once a star defensive tackle on the Georgetown University football team, Kouri’s take-charge attitude and the help of a new radical treatment, he managed to teach his spine to function properly and learned to walk again, with the assistance of a walker. His treatment is a new therapy known as Locomotor Training; the late Christopher Reeve was one of the first to use the therapy.

Kouri’s experience, the fact that there were no locomotor training centers located in California (he had to move to Louisville for a period of time to receive his treatment), and the urge to help others with spinal cord injuries, he approached his wife, family, friends, and along with the help of his therapist and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, he was able to raise funds to start Next Step Fitness; funded by donations and grants, Next Step Fitness is an affordable nonprofit rehab center in LA.

Check out the full inspirational journey of Janne Kouri.