About Me
I'm an author, an advocate, an avid academic and an aspiring Stoic. Prior to my paralysis I was a single mom working in the trades. Now I'm a full time writer, and I hold a Master's Degree. I'm a free thinker and an ecocentrist. I'm passionate about mental health, equity, philosophy, and education. Paying forward the peace I'm finding in this life is important to me.
Born and raised in Globe, Arizona, I'm a mother to a kind and intelligent daughter, who has blessed my life with two precious grandchildren. I enjoy nature, animals, rock music and literature.
It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.
“Get busy with life's purpose, toss aside empty hopes, get active in your own rescue-if you care for yourself at all-and do it while you can.”
My Spinal Cord Injury
In 2015, when I was 32 years old, I traveled to my hometown from the jobsite in Oregon where I was working to attend a funeral for a friend. After the services I was in a friend's vehicle when she took her eyes off the road, and I grabbed the wheel to avoid a head on collision. We flipped instead.
My C4 vertebrae was crushed on impact. A few weeks later I learned the odds of regaining any sensory or motor function below my shoulders were slim to none. After pushing through intense rehab in which I was weaned from the ventilator and learned how to operate a power wheelchair with my head, I moved home to live with family. In the years that followed I turned to philosophy, psychology, and cathartic writing to cope, eventually furthering my education, publishing multiple books, becoming a freelance writer, and getting involved in advocacy for my disabled community.
My spinal cord injury affects almost every aspect of my life, whether it's health and care concerns or trying to exist in an ableist society. I have found some peace with my disability in solidarity with and advocacy for my spinal cord injury community. In my personal life I've also turned to Buddhist thought and Stoic philosophy to cultivate endurance.