NeuroNote 4 - Spinal Cord Injury

To dig deeper into the lives of those with spinal cord injuries, I read a blog post about Francesco Clark who experienced a spinal cord injury when he was 24. Prior to this, I did not have a lot of knowledge on spinal cord injuries besides that they could lead to lack of function of the extremities. In our society, when someone mentions a spinal cord injury (SCI), people immediately think that that person is unable function on their own, however Francesco is the CEO and Founder of Clark's Botanicals. That is what initially made me chose this blog post because I wanted to learn more about how someone who was paralyzed from the neck down had started a successful skin care brand after becoming paralyzed. I found a video on YouTube from the Tamron Hall Show that can be found here in order to learn more about Francesco's life. Due to his injury, he was unable to sweat above the level of his SCI and neglected to take care of his skin because he was too ashamed to look at himself in the mirror. Francesco eventually decided to not let his SCI define him and took control of his life, which is when he decided to start his own skin care brand. From Francesco's story, I learned the importance of independence, self care, and perseverance. I think that Francesco's story could aid others in their learning process by exemplifying that there are no limits what any individual can achieve, even an individual with a SCI.

Clark, F. (2017, June 4). A Meaningful Life. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-meaningful-life_b_10281396