What’s Good: Man Told Would Never Recover From Injury, Rides On
In 2006, Janne Kouri was told he would never have a normal life again. You see, he suffered from a spinal cord injury so extreme that countless doctors told him he would never recover. However, Janne did not let that stop him. He spent two months in intensive care and then a year in rehabilitation and progress was made.
Janne is now riding his powered wheelchair 2,900 miles from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. to bring awareness and raise money for 6 million individuals and wounded service men living with paralysis in the U.S. If you think that is amazing, it doesn't stop there.
Janne has also created a non-profit organization called NextStep Fitness, opened the first state of the art fitness and rehabilitation center in LA and expanded those facilities to Phoenix, Atlanta, Kansas City, Orlando, Raleigh and Vegas.
Janne's "Ride for Paralysis" has taken him all across the U.S. and allowed him many once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. He has has thrown out the first pitch of a Cincinnati Reds game, rolled into a stadium with Rumble the Bison to deliver a half-court basketball in Oklahoma City, met with wounded veterans and team members from the Wounded Warriors Project in Phoenix, Arizona and spoke to physical and occupational therapy students at the University of Tennessee. As well as raised $290k with a goal of $500k by the time he arrives at his alma mater, Georgetown University, on May 15th.