The National
Spinal Cord
Injury Association

SCI Life
Fall/Winter 1998

My Name is Eric and I was a Victim of a Drive-By Shooting

Eric Gibson became another victim of violent crime in Los Angeles. He was shot in a drive-by shooting. The bullets to his back made him a T-12 paraplegic.

The traumatic injury showed Eric a world he had never imagined. While he was a high school graduate, he had never held a legitimate job or envisioned a serious career. Raised by his mother after Eric's father was killed in Viet Nam, he became a gang member and lived his life out on the streets. Wheelchairs and paralysis never were in his vocabulary and Eric never gave a single thought to peple with disabilities. Being a gang member, Eric knew he could bully his way to get power and money.

But on that fateful October day, Eric's life changed forever.

When he left the hopital with no hope of walking again, he was a bitter man with no clear direction for medical or personal rehabilitation. According to Eric, Dr. Paul Berns at the National Spinal Cord Injury Association directed Eric toward a better way to live his life and improve on his spinal cord injury. Eric said "Dr. Berns enrolled me into the PEERS Program, which gave the opportunity to get in the Douglas RGO Brace after intensive physical therapy."

After many months of intensified therapy, Eric learned to "walk again." While his brace and physical therapy were not paid for by California's welfare system, Eric "repaid" Dr. Berns by becoming an active member of NSCIA and by helping other in need.

Eric lived up to his promise and with the guidance of NSCIA, visited newly injured spinal cord injury patients in the hospital and their homes to give them support and education. He participated in health care seminars and has answered hundreds of phone calls from spinal cord patients.

For the last two years, Eric walked the last quarter mile at the Los Angeles Marathon and served as a torch bearer at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta. And, after two years of therapy and hundreds of miles of walking, Eric says he is stronger and has more function in his lower extremities. His bowel and bladder functions also have improved.

Eric has appeared on numerous television shows to promote the benefits of rehabilitation to spinal cord injured and has blossomed into a salesman for durable medical products, such as wheelchairs and catheters. Eric also serves as a member of NSCIA's Board of Directors.

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