Taking the "NextStep" In Recovery

Janne Kouri, devoted athlete from Los Angeles, California, was living the dream: house on the beach in LA, career he loved, beautiful girlfriend, phenomenal family and friends -- and in a split second, his world was turned upside down. Kouri, a former college football standout at Georgetown University, was having a fun, perfect day on the beach playing in a sand volleyball tournament with some friends when he decided to take a dip in the ocean between sets. When he dove head first into the wave just like he had done every other time, he his his head on a sandbar, broke his C5 and C6 vertebrae, and was instantly paralyzed from the neck down. He emerged from underwater on his back and floated until a nearby swimmer noticed him and carried him to shore. 

The doctor unveiled the news nobody, especially an active person like Janne, ever wants to hear: "You will never walk again so you better learn to enjoy board games." After surviving 2 months in the ICU battling pneumonia, coding twice, and having a 104-degree fever, it was time for Janne to graduate from the ICU to a rehab facility. His girlfriend spent months searching for a rehab facility that had hope in his recovery, and finally, Dr. Susan Harkema at Fraizer Rehab Institute in Louisville, Kentucky was the only one. They left everything behind to make the long haul from LA to Louisville when it dawned on Kouri, why is California the eighth largest economy in the world, has thousands of yoga studios, body building gyms, weight training facilities, and various other types of fitness related gyms, but not one that is tailored to people with disabilities? The average person who suffers a spinal cord injury only spends 36 days in a rehab facility before they are discharged because that's all insurance will pay for. Janne was fortunate enough to be able to spend a year at Fraizer Rehab and he contributes all of his success to them and their locomotor training which allowed him to regain enough muscle strength to walk without his wheelchair, and dance with his wife. 

Kouri was having so much success and enjoying being able to do the things that the doctors said he'd never be able to do again, and he didn't want to leave Fraizer. He began thinking of ways to take Fraizer back to LA and be able to help others who might not be able to afford putting their life on hold and traveling across the country to participate in life-saving rehab. In 2008, NextStep was born. NextStep Fitness is a nationally recognized non-profit organization that focuses on the physical rehabilitation of people with disabilities. Exercise is so important in the recovery process of people who suffer from spinal cord injuries, as well as countless other disabilities, but Janne Kouri and his wife didn't want money or insurance to ever be a barrier for anyone who needed rehab. 

I chose this topic because my bachelor's degree is in exercise and sport science and I spent a lot of time studying the positive effects of exercise on individuals with different diseases or disabilities. Also after starting OT school, I am intrigued by spinal cord injuries and how each individual's injury and damage is different. One thing that stood out to me after hearing Janne Kouri's story was his positive mindset after his injury as well as his motivation to help others who were suffering along with him. One thing Kouri clung to during this difficult time was a word with an important meaning from his Finnish heritage: 

"Sisu: To be courageous in the face of adversity, to be rational in the face of adversity, and to never complain in the face of adversity." 

As a future occupational therapist, it is so important to identify with each client and each of their occupations while also focusing on different types of interventions that will be pertinent in their recovery process. Not only is their recovery important, but also the ability to receive those interventions. Not everyone who suffers from a disability is financially fortunate enough to have opportunity that Janne Kouri did. Which is why I am so glad to have found the NextStep Fitness organization and is something I am strongly advocating for. Exercise is important for everyone and is easily available for those without disabilities, but as future health care providers, we have to do better at making it easily available for those who do have disabilities as well. 


I encourage you to click on the following link, Janne Kouri - Life After Paralyzation to hear his story and see the video that inspired me to write this blog post.  

References:

T. (2013, December 24). Life after paralyzation: Janne Kouri at TEDxVeniceBeach. Retrieved April  03, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCxCFjmruSg

Janne Kouri. (2017, November 09). Retrieved April 03, 2018, from https://southbay.goldenstate.is/janne-kouri/