ACCESS ADVENTURE VOLUNTEER

I am half country and half city coming from a diverse family. I lived half my life in the Sierra Nevada's the other half has been in the Bay Area. I decided after graduating high school to attend Feather River Junior College for my AA. I spent the next three years going to school full time and found myself loving school and education and of course horses. In May 2000, when I was 20, I was involved in a major car accident. This accident changed my life. I became a split level incomplete paraplegic. I did not want to stop my education so I moved back down to the Bay Area and continued at a Junior college with a larger emphasis on Liberal Art's. I graduated from Mills College with honors in May of 2005. Two months after that I went to a speech given by Mike Muir about his trip across America. I did not realize that I could combine horses, disabilities, and changing peoples’ lives. All those years and lessons with horses that I could share and teach others. I was hooked - this is where I wanted to go with my life. I became very ill due to my disability and took two years to recover. This time in my life was the hardest and most difficult to deal with, but was also the most exemplar on how precious life is and how delicate but resilient a disability can be.

I moved down to the Bay Area in June of 2008. I promptly immersed myself into Access-Adventure., I drive my F-350 Dually Ford truck, hauling the horses, carriages and sometimes people. I go on the camping excursions and will be bringing more people with disabilities along this next year. I drive the horses and am looking to start competing in the driving world and want to support the therapy and education with the horses themselves because I think that there are a lot of people in need and horses are the key to fulfill that need. I love showing people out in the world that even though I am in the wheelchair that I too can do it. I can show people with Rebel my horse alongside, that out in the world that even with disability I will not be in a box. I look forward to all the ways that we at Access-Adventure can change peoples lives and show how through horses that anyone’s life (able bodied or not ) can be forever changed for the better. I believe in living life to the fullest and you can either get on this ride or get run over.

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