Ideas Happen 2004
Inspiring new beginnings
Visa is proud to support the creative spirit and boundless energy of our Ideas Happen winners. We believe that building a better community starts by helping people build their dreams. Our twelve outstanding innovators each received $25,000 from Visa to help them launch their ideas. We can hardly wait to see what they’ll do next.
Self-Expression
Brandon W., UTRoad to Walk/Self-Expression
On June 15, 2002, I was paralyzed from the chest down with a T-5, T-6 and T-10 complete injury due to a pole vaulting accident. I was told by my doctor that I would never walk again. In December of 2002 I found out about a small program in Utah that offered the chance to get paralysis victims to walk again. I have now been at the program for a little over a year, and I'm happy to say that I've been without my wheelchair since May 5, 2004. I wear leg braces and use canes, but I'm walking.
There are about 14 people that are enrolled in the program. I would like to make a documentry about this small clinic and document the increadible miracle that goes on within those walls. After the film is made I plan on submitting it to various film festivals in hopes of getting a theatrical release. I would like to show the world that there is still a chance for paralysis victims to walk again. If selected I would use the money to fund the making of the documentry, including pre and post production costs and platforms in which to edit the footage on. This is such an amazing story and I believe that you truely can't believe it untill you see it, which is why I feel it must be told.
