Twenty years ago I sustained a spinal cord injury that left me paralyzed from the chest down. Looking back...lying in the surf in Martinique, the undertow pulling my legs out from under me, flipping me upside down onto the hard sand. Was that my neck cracking? Twenty years old...paralyzed, face down under the water...unable to breathe. My life flashing in front of me...playing ice hockey, running races in Central Park, throwing baseballs and basketballs...always on the go, and now immobile...nothing moving. How would I survive?

With the help of my family, The Alan T Brown Foundation to Cure Paralysis was established. Its existence gave me focus, hope and the spirit to move forward. The Foundation's primary mission — to raise funds for spinal cord research and serve as a resource and support system for individuals affected by spinal cord injury... For me, my therapy — reaching out to the spinally injured and their loved ones to demonstrate that there is life after paralysis.

The Foundation’s Outreach Programs at Mt. Sinai Hospital and Kessler Rehabilitation Center in West Orange, NJ, have been instrumental in providing people with information about health care, travel, education, entertainment, every day chores, etc.—enabling them to do things they did before an injury — even though the approach may be different. In 2005, the Foundation was recognized for the outstanding work of its Outreach Program by receiving the Quality of Life Grant from the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, and was selected as one of the beneficiaries of the PGA Tour’s Barclays Classic charitable giving efforts.

In the time since my injury, I have built a career that has included working for Slim-Fast Foods, organizing advertising campaigns for top celebrities, managing community affairs for the Florida Marlins, and owning my own public relations firm. I am currently involved in the start-up of a new sports radio station in South Florida.

Personally, I have achieved many of the goals I set for myself, not at the least which was completing two New York City Marathons. Married after my injury, Susanne and I will celebrate our 11th Anniversary in 2006, and we have two healthy sons, Max and Sam — how we are blessed! I am hopeful that the world in which Max and Sam grow up will view people in wheelchairs positively. I may be confined to a wheelchair, but I am a whole person...a son, brother, husband, father, friend. “Never say never” is an integral part of my philosophy.

In the very near future I am confident that we will find a cure for spinal paralysis. Your involvement and support of the Foundation’s research commitments and outreach programs will help more than 250,000 Americans with spinal cord injuries realize their dream to stand up and walk again.