At RHSNM for inpatient rehabilitation following a spinal cord injury, Damian found something he’d been missing: hope.

That Tuesday started like any other for Damian Meza. At 5:30 am, he got on his motorcycle and left for work. But Damian never got to his job because an oncoming car cut off his bike.

Two days later, Damian woke up in the hospital, remembering nothing and experiencing extreme back pain. But he woke up. That fact was huge for Damian’s family, who counted the days, hours, minutes, and seconds to see his eyes again.

Though this was leaps and bounds of progress, the lifelong injuries Damian sustained in the accident would drastically change his way of life. Damian suffered a spinal cord injury, among other traumatic injuries, in the crash. Nurses told Damian that he would spend the rest of his life with paraplegia and no hope of moving his lower limbs again.

This news crushed Damian. As an avid car lover and racer, how could Damian ever do what he loves again without the use of his legs?

Read more