On Sept. 22, 1996, Jason Regier's life was changed indefinitely when he wrecked his car traveling at 75 mph on his way back to college for his final semester. The crash resulted in Regier receiving a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Today, Jason is a gold medal paralypian who travels the country telling his story of perseverance while serving as a role model for college students everywhere. All the while, Regier plays quadriplegic "quad" rugby.
Regier told his inspiring story to a crowd of students on Monday at 8 p.m. in Jarman Auditorium. His presentation, entitled, "Getting Back in the Game (And Smashing Stereotypes Along the Way)," began with two simple words: "Push forward." From there, Regier described his life before the accident, recounting his goals and passions, one of which being soccer. Before the accident, Regier had a dream to play Division I soccer and then move to play professional soccer, hopefully in Europe. Unfortunately, that all changed after his tragic wreck.
Once in the hospital in Englewood, Colo., doctors told Regier he was paralyzed from the neck down as the result of a severe spinal cord injury. He only had ten percent of his muscle use and would have to begin rehabilitation if he ever wanted to recover any more of his muscle functions. From there, Regier created new goals to work towards. They were rehabilitation, pushing his wheelchair and somehow playing rugby.
Regier showed a video to the audience that documented his daily routine of waking up in the morning. After the video he asked the audience how long they thought it normally takes him to get up in the morning. After several answers were shouted out, he answered that it normally takes him about 45 minutes to get out of bed.
After sitting in the hospital, Regier spent the following three and a half months in rehabilitation trying to gain back some of his muscle control. While rehabilitating, he was introduced to quad rugby and eventually tried out for a developmental team in 1999. Jason was cut from the team four different times before he finally made the team in 2006. From there, he traveled to Beijing and earned a gold medal in the 2008 Olympics. His next goal is to train for the Paralympics in 2012 where he hopes to compete with the U.S. team in London.
Toward the end of the presentation, Regier spoke about his time training for the quad rugby team and commented on how one of his best traits of his most helpful with the recovery process was perseverance. "It is what it is," he said as he encouraged everyone in the crowd to work with what they are given.
Before ending his presentation, Regier left the audience with a quote he paraphrased from President Theodore Roosevelt. "Do what you can, where you are, with what you have." Through everything, he said he would always push himself because he fought for something more. From pushing his own chair to playing quad rugby, he persevered through it all.
