Life rolls on: Living after a spinal injury

At 17, Jesse Billauer aspired to be a professional surfer. Then one day in 1996, while surfing off a Southern Californian beach, a wave knocked him into a sandbar and broke his neck, leaving him quadriplegic. Friends and neighbors raised money for Jesse's medical expenses. After a few years, when his medical bills were paid, he and his brother Josh decided to use the money to start an organization that would raise awareness about spinal cord injury as well as money for research.

"After my injury everyone kept saying, 'Well, life goes on,' and I thought, No, life rolls on," Jesse says.

So far, Life Rolls On has raised more than $1 million, says Josh, who serves as chairman of the board.

"When you've put all the effort in and see the smiling faces of people surfing who never thought they could even get into the ocean, you tend not to dwell on how much time and energy went into everything," Josh says.

Advice to people who have suffered great misfortune: Look for some way you can get your life to roll on through doing something you love.

Browse for similar stories in our index at the very bottom of this page, or read another story on a gritty athlete who became a fund-raiser.

Thanks to Stephanie Cajigal for the source story in the January/February issue of Neurology Now.

No more “diagnose and adios” for “Laverne and Shirley” star: MS patient education

David Lander acted as Andrew “Squiggy” Squiggman in the 1970s sitcom “Laverene and Shirley.” He’s still laughing, even 23 years after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. In those days, there was nothing doctors could do about MS, so doctors’ treatment was “diagnose and adios.” Now, many treatments are available.

“My doctor had painted a fairly bleak picture of the disease, even going so far as to say I probably wouldn’t walk again,” he said. Now he walks slower—and is a scout for the Seattle Mariners baseball team—and for the handicap accessibility of ballparks.

Speaking to MS patients is one of his greatest joys. He adds, “There’s a great strength that we derive from each other. Support groups offer MS patients an invaluable resource.”

“Wherever the chips may fall, if I fall with them, I will do so gracefully, laughing.”

Advice to friends and families of patients with MS: Take ‘em out to the ballgame—but check first for the ballpark’s accessibility for handicapped people.

Read another story about a celebrity spokesperson , or read Linda Childers’ article, “Fall Down Laughing,” in Neurology Now’s Jan./Feb. issue.

Seinfeld Star’s Advice to Families on Chronic Illness: Patient education

Karen Greenspan is the half-sister of Jason Alexander (George on Seinfeld). Fifteen years ago she was diagnosed with scleroderma, in which the person’s own immune system malfunctions and attacks the person’s body. He has helped her over the years in many ways.

What I was doing initially was educating myself at the same time that I was inviting other people to get educated, and I was taking an organization that was having trouble being seen (the Scleroderma Foundation) and just throwing a little media attention on it.

One way to help loved ones with a chronic disease is to be as educated as you can…I think the hardest thing for people with chronic illness is this sense that they are somehow separated from everybody else that’s healthy—either by the fact that they can’t do stuff, or they just don’t feel well, or they think, ‘I’m sick; they’re healthy,’ or ‘Maybe I’m going to have a shortened life, and the quality of my life isn’t as good’—whatever it may be. I think the thing that you do is include them as honestly and realistically in life as you can.

Karen and I don’t pull punches. We say, ‘You’re a sick girl; you’ve got problems, and so let’s not beat around the bush with it. What’s going on? Where are you at any given time? What can you do? What can’t you do? What’s realistic? What isn’t?’

The trick is to be keep finding stuff to be happy about and laugh about and something you want to do and push forward.”

Read the source article in the Fall 2005 issue of My Family Doctor: The Magazine That Makes Housecalls, where it's available for purchase.