The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain. The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system; the spinal cord is basically the voice of the brain. If you break a wrist, the bones can heal. If you tear a ligament, surgery can fix you up. If you badly damage your spinal cord, your body will never work properly again. The brutal truth of life is that it can change in an instant, one moment you never wanted or expected. In the blink of an eye it can happen. By riding our bikes at high speeds down narrow trails, over jumps, and off drops, we open ourselves to a potential world of pain. But we all say it’s worth it. We hear stories of people who have become paralyzed and although we feel sympathetic, we largely shut our minds off to the possibility of it happening to us. We don’t do this to be ignorant jerks, but more in an act of preserving sanity. The devastation of paralysis is something we block out, jerk our thoughts away from. It is a very common thing to hear people comment that if they ever became paralyzed they would want to be shot. Loss is incredibly hard to deal with. It tears away from us all the things that cannot be torn. Once something is done, it’s done. But there is beauty in the blackest of moments, because if we are strong enough, we all have access to a light that has the power to block out the dark side. In this volume of Characters we hear from a woman who has been thrown into an athletes’ worst nightmare… and has clawed her way out into the light of day. She personifies the word strength. Thank you Tara Llanes, for giving us insight into your experience. -Riley McIntosh … Pictures and more
Put “Tara Llanes” in the search box under the picture on the top right corner of this page for more articles on Tara. She is a very impressive individual and athlete. Stoked News is very happy to hear about her successes over the last few years. – SN