Law Enforcement Technology

DEC 2014

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www.officer.com December 2014 Law Enforcement Technology 17 LEADERSHIP goes to therapy, though now he has more on his plate. Last year, bolstered by hope and determination, he finished writing his first book, "From Zero to a Hundred: Finding My Purpose through My Pain" and founded the Zero 2 a Hundred Foundation for children with brain and spinal cord injuries. When he was in the hospital, over the course of lots of rehabilitation, Roy says he was struck by the many kids and parents who struggled to afford treatment for their injuries. He wanted to do something to help. "I made a promise to myself that if I ever was going to get up and walk again, that I was going to create something where I could give back to kids and young adults that I could relate to and that could relate to me," he says. According to statistics from Boston Children's Hospital, kids account for only five percent of individuals who sustain spinal cord injuries; 60 to 75 percent of all spinal cord injuries occur in the neck area; 20 percent affect the chest or upper back; and the remaining 5 to 20 percent involve the spinal cord and lower back. Many head and neck injuries can be avoided; they sometimes happen when kids jump into lakes and pools. Bit regardless of how it happens the toll his type of injury takes on a child and family's emotional wellbeing—and finances—is significant. The new foundation aims to assist kids in the Houston area with spinal cord injuries, as medical facility costs and expenses alone are exorbitant. The foun- dation is in the process of raising money with events planned for 2015, to include a 5k in February and a partnership with Project Walk. Roy says a partnership with Microsoft is in the works to give kids tablets so they might create apps and get paid. "We're reintegrating (kids) into soci- ety," he says. "We're letting them know hey, we haven't forgotten about you. You can still be useful and you can still have a life after a spinal cord injury." The name Zero 2 A Hundred isn't about the latest fast car or motorcycle. Instead, Roy says, it represents the highs and lows everybody faces in life at one time or another. "The zero for me is when I was para- lyzed," he says. "See, everybody will have a zero in their life; it doesn't necessarily mean you'll have to be paralyzed, but everybody will suffer some type of loss…

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