ProjectLifeFlight: Let the Good Times Roll!

Monday, December 3, 2012

Let the Good Times Roll!

It has been a while since I last posted, but I figured that today would be a great one to get back at it. A lot has happened since my last post and I can't wait to share everything with all of you, but so much has happened that it will take some time to get everyone caught up. In the near future expect to see updates about:

- The nonprofit we are starting here in Missoula, MT that will provide outdoor adventure for people with disabilities.
- 2013 summer spinal cord injury outdoor adventure camp in Montana!
- "Wings to Wheels" a full length documentary about my fight back to life.
- Public motivational speaking.
- Various other video projects that will be designed to help boost the quality of life for those with disabilities.
- and much more!

For now I thought I would leave you with a quick update. Amy and I have finally moved back to Missoula, Montana! This is where I had my accident, after I woke up from my coma we had to move back to Minnesota for support from family and friends. We worked extremely hard over the last two years and we finally made it back! We couldn't be more excited about it.

Since we moved back there has been some exciting news about one of my new film projects. Over last summer I carried my GoPro camera with me on all my adventures. I put together a short film and have received an overwhelming amount of support from it. I entered it into a national film competition called Driven Creativity sponsored by G-Technology. I actually ended up winning the GoPro category. G-Technology is helping support my film career by gifting me with a two terabyte G-Drive and a new GoPro camera. Thanks again G-Technology for all your support!

Last but not least I had an amazing morning today. My video was selected by GoPro for their video of the day. It has been a long time dream of mine to someday be recognized by GoPro for something I was doing in outdoor adventure. Today that happened, and I'm on cloud nine. Thank you GoPro! If you haven't seen it yet here it is. Joe Stone's 2012 Adaptive Adventures.

http://gopro.com/videos/video-of-the-day/2012/12/3/

Thank you so much to everyone that has been there to support me!

6 comments:

UnknownDecember 10, 2012 at 6:05 PM
In your movie on GoPro the fishing you did where did you go for that.
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stacyDecember 14, 2012 at 3:21 PM
When I needed a instant canopy I found these guys. They were great and affordable.
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MAry BrownFebruary 23, 2013 at 12:58 AM
this post is very short and straight and give the clear vision regarding Stone. i wish you have explain a little further but this is great

information.
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NicholeApril 14, 2013 at 10:31 PM
This is such an inspiration to everyone and glad that you time to write these experience.

Nichole of Dominic Knight's Harley Street Clinic
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AnonymousSeptember 15, 2013 at 3:08 PM
Hello Joe. I was just on GoPro's sight checkingout the videos of the day when I came across yours. It gave me goosebumps!! You ARE very inspiring. When my son was in a snowboarding accident and I had to meet the ambulance at the emergency room. I found him strapped to the long board waiting for the CT scan for an inverted, half pipe, trick gone bad, back injury. We did not know what the extent of his injuries were at that time. As we sat in silent worry, he said, "Mom, I saw this guy who is paralized but he still snowboards. He sits on a chair with the board attached to the bottom." When my friends 4 year old broke his arm while jumping his snow board, his only comment in the ER was......next time I'm gonna land it. It is people like you who are an inspiration to all these kids. God Bless you and all the mountains you conquer!!!
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My Story

My name is Joe Stone and my story starts on August 13th, 2010 when I was speed flying solo in the mountains of Montana. While having the time of my life about 200 to 300 feet above the earth, I unfortunately had complications in my canopy. This sent me spiraling down to the earth very fast until I crashed on my back onto the side of the mountain.

All the stars were aligned perfectly that day. There were only four people on the mountain and the man that was closest to me was the only one with a cell phone to call for a life flight, he was also a trained EMT. I owe my life to this man, if it wasn't for him I would have surely died that day on the mountain.

After waking up from a 3.5 weeklong induced coma, I quickly learned of the injuries I had suffered. Four broken ribs, a laceration to my liver, very badly bruised lungs, my heart had stopped twice, eight broken vertebrae throughout my neck and back, and spinal cord damage at the C7 level. Now I am diagnosed as an incomplete C7 quadriplegic.

I started my therapy at 128 pounds after losing about 35 pounds of pure muscle. You could imagine that I was so broken down that simply chewing my food was a very exhausting process, let alone feeding myself. I quickly made a decision in rehab that I was not going to let the diagnoses slow me down. The first step was for me to regain my independence. After accomplishing this in March, I decided it was time to set a new goal. A goal that would prove to be the most challenging endeavor of my life.

In May of 2011 I rented a hand cycle and set a goal to hand cycle the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park, Montana. This is no ordinary road, it climbs approximately 2,500 feet over 18 miles until you reach Logan Pass. From there you get a very rewarding 10 or 12 mile decent down the mountain pass followed by another exhausting 25 miles of cranking until we reached our destination. When I finished this ride I not only realized that this was the biggest moment in my life, but I realized my life truly felt limitless again. We filmed the entire process and we are now creating a documentary titled "Wings to Wheels".

Now that this ride is in the past, and summer is quickly approaching, I need a new goal for myself. The goal is to run(push) in Grandmas marathon in June and then attempt a small sprint triathlon in July. If all goes well it will be time to start training for something I never thought I could commit to as an able bodied person. I will start pushing towards an Ironman Triathlon. An Ironman consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile run. All of this needs to be completed in 17 hours and will be done using nothing but pure arm power.

I have accomplished a lot of big goals in my life, but nothing will compare to the amount of work that I will have to put into making this goal a reality.

About Me

Monday, December 3, 2012

Let the Good Times Roll!

6 comments:

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