Joe Klas On June 5th 1982 at 2 pm, it was neither the date of my birth, but rather the day my life shifted into what felt like another dimension. Perhaps a dimension that I would not have had to experience if it was not for my motorcycle accident at the age of 21, which completely severed my spinal cord at Thoraic 12 and Lumber 1.
After the accident, I had spent the following 4 years struggling to define this new chapter in my life. Who is this Joe? I tried to begin to explore the possibilities that this new life could offer me. However, I was constantly reminded of the physical limitations that were now my new reality and forced me to return to a simple spectators role in life.
After all those years of being a spectator, I had finally arrived at the conclusion that there was a deeper purpose of why I had not died on that day. It was not to be a passenger of life, but rather to prevent future generations from living with the spinal cord injuries.
A life dictated by 2 wheels in a seated position is not a way to live in a world, where the footprint of ones life, leaves its footprints in this world.