Lisa Holcombe – Catastrophic Injury, Spinal Cord Injury/Paralysis
Lisa is a vivacious, energetic, outgoing young woman who is fully engaged in life just like any other 22 year old. Unlike most 22 year olds, she spends time counseling other young people with life-altering spinal cord injuries.
Needless to say, life in a wheelchair was never part of her dream. But Lisa has survived the long, hard road of injury and recovery to not simply survive but thrive. Looking at her today, you would never guess that at one time she was on the precipice of suicide.
At age 18, Lisa was living her dream —she was a senior in high-school and a cheerleader to boot.
That summer her high-school cheer adviser enrolled the team in a “cheerleading safety camp” at the big state university.
The camp was conducted by an organization which was the national leader in developing competitive cheerleading for ESPN. The founders of this organization, in partnership with a major sports television network, had spent years transforming cheerleading from pom-poms, dance moves, and school spirit to full-scale gymnastics with potentially life-threatening tosses and stunts.
It was obvious that Lisa’s small town cheer group was no match for the big schools who had access to proper gymnastics instruction and training. But, that didn’t stop the leaders of the camp from pushing Lisa’s group beyond its limits —even to the point of public shame and tears. The girls on Lisa’s team were even told that they wouldn’t be allowed to compete in the final day of the camp if they didn’t step it up.
Violating their own rules of training, aiding, spotting, and emotional readiness the camp directors applied pressure on the squad to perform a basket toss. This highly-dangerous stunt involved the team throwing Lisa 10-20 feet into the air and catching her in their coupled arms. The team was so emotionally stressed, however, that they threw Lisa too high and too wide. She landed on her neck on the hard ground, snapping her spine and rendering her a paraplegic.
The lowest point in Lisa’s life came two years later during the trial which was forced on her because the defendant organization refused to settle. The school district, her cheer instructor, many of her teammates, and many others in her community abandoned her. They stopped visiting her, stopped talking to her, were unwilling to appear as witnesses on her behalf, and preferred to act as though the tragedy had never happened. Instead of being a young woman just beginning her adult life, Lisa felt that she was a burden (both physically and financially) to her family and a pariah in her community.
She became despondent, locked herself in her room, and retreated from life. She was tormented by constant thoughts of suicide.
Only when her case was resolved and Lisa and her family could afford to move to a more welcoming community was she able to turn her life around and become the vibrant woman she is today.
