Showing posts with label #postTraumaticGrowth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #postTraumaticGrowth. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

1.6 Seconds. That's How Long It Takes to Fall Two Stories

1.6 seconds. That's how long it takes to fall two stories. That's how long it takes for life to change

MICHAEL MURPHY is a motivational speaker, paralyzed athlete, and writer. His journey began in April 2007 when he fell off a roof in college, shattered his spine, and was paralyzed. He was 21.

Michael had to adapt to life in a wheelchair over a long rehab process to find his “new normal,” regain his independence, and return to school.

Despite his accident, Michael remained the competitive athlete that led him to play both football and baseball in college.

Paralympics
 

In 2008 he found a new passion when he was introduced to hand-cycling and adaptive sports. His first race was The Marine Corps Marathon that year after he teamed up with The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation to raise money for spinal cord research. Michael has since helped to raise more than $50,000 for a cure.

Today, Michael is a 12-time marathoner with Top 5 finishes in New York and Boston. He was also featured on NBC after completing two Tough Mudder competitions in 2012 and 2013 with the help of his teammates and an off-road handcycle.

Michael's interview is one you will want to listen to more than one time. He offers insight and motivation to live your life to the fullest - no matter what cards you have been dealt. He explains Post Traumatic Growth (PTG) which is positive change experienced as a result of the struggle with a major life crisis of traumatic events. 


Recently, Michael Murphy was featured in the documentary, "Snow to Sand" as the lone hand cyclist riding with a team of 15 strangers from Denver to LA in 2016. Their goal was to raise money for people suffering from paralysis by embarking on a 1,300-mile cross-country bike ride that pushes them past their limits and beyond what any of them thought they could achieve as individuals.

Click here to watch

He now trains with the Competition Team at the National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD) in Winter Park, CO, with every intention to make the US Ski Team…and go to the Paralympics. 

 

Spinal injury

CLICK HERE TO BUY

In the spring of 2007, college junior Michael Murphy has it all: a stellar academic record, a vibrant social life, a coveted internship planned for the summer, and a dream to eventually serve as a Marine. But in just 1.6 seconds, the course of his life is irreversibly altered when he falls off a roof. After learning that he would never walk again, Michael realizes that he must start life over sitting down. 

The first in a series of three memoirs, WHEN I FELL: How I Rerouted My Life and Found Strength in a Severed Spine is Michael’s story of how he used this traumatizing incident to reframe his thoughts, learn to lean on friends and family, and to hopefully become a pillar of strength and hope for others.

Weaving the stories of his background and upbringing with the aftermath of his accident, readers are initially drawn in by the calamitous event, but then get to intimately know, and become invested in, Michael Murphy as a person. 

But throughout WHEN I FELL, Michael doesn’t sugarcoat the challenges he faces. We feel his frustration as seemingly small tasks, like getting from his bed into a wheelchair, require days of therapy and practice. We feel his panic as mind-numbing pain causes him to hallucinate in the hospital. But ultimately, Michael doesn’t just survive, he thrives as he learns to ask for and accept help from those closest to him, and readers will find themselves cheering for him as he dives headfirst into recovery and begins to regain his independence.

The fall may have robbed Michael of his ability to walk, but it couldn’t take away his love of athletics and competitive spirit. Using this passion to fuel his recovery, Michael’s new dream is still to serve his country, but this time as a Paralympian as a Para Alpine Skier (or sit skier.) Guided by his strong faith, the unwavering support of family and friends, and a life lesson from a Navy SEAL, Michael assures us it’s okay not to be okay, encourages us to “Never Never Never Give Up,” and gives us a Para-Alpine intimate insight into the world of people with disabilities. 

The scripture that has kept Michael going forward and has been tattooed on his arm to always have in view: 

"But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint" Isaiah 40:31

    CONNECT WITH MICHAEL HERE

FACEBOOK

AMAZON

WEBSITE

INSTAGRAM