I happen to know a lot of people with SCI (spinal cord injury), because the I'm the Manager at a place that offers accessible accommodations, and people come from all over the world for therapy in Carlsbad.

I met JD and his mother Sherry about a year ago when they came and stay with us for about five months.

DJ history is no different from many other heartbreaking histories of people that suffer an accident and get themselves suddenly paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. Being paralyzed doesn't mean that these people are disabled. They can do almost everything we do on a day to day basis and sometimes they do even better. You can see examples like this that are extreme talented people and great athletes!

JD is a very bright young man that got hit by a truck in front of his house almost three years ago.

Insurance doesn't cover alternative treatment like therapy or any expense related to these type of injury so it is very difficult for the family to maintain and pay for all the extra cost of any treatment so they rely on friend and family to help and fundraisers are another way to keep up with the high costs of surgery or any other treatment.

I can only imagine how it is to suddenly be in a wheelchair. We take things for granted. As we are not around these people all the time, we have no idea what they go through when their life change in a split of a second living them paralyzed. Some lose movement of part of their body, depending on the level of the injury. 
They have to learn how do do things in another way. They need help to do things that before they did with closed eyes, like scratch their head, nose, face.

When I see people talking on their phone or texting when they are driving, it gives me chills. A split of a second, it's all what takes for a life change accident happen and the journey these people go through it is so hard. This was not the case of JD or many other people I got to know and became friends with. Accidents happen all the time even when we are paying attention let along when we are distracted by a cell phone or anything else. Life is too precious. There is nothing in our lives that cannot wait a few minutes or hours or even a day. 

Check out JD's fundraiser's website and if you can, help by donating, even a small amount or share the information with those who can give a little, it would be wonderful.

Thank you!
Isabel Canzoneri

bit.ly/1tOie6p 

On my last visit to the dentist the hygienist recommended me to use one of those powered and rechargeable toothbrush.

I was somehow a little upset because I though she was trying to sell me something I didn't need.
Note, she didn't pull a powered toothbrush from her drawers and handed it to me. She gave me a flyer or little folder with information on those products from an specific brand. Well, she probably was trying to sell the product, I guess.

I went back home and did a further research in those toothbrushes and tabled the subject.

The other day I went to a store and for no specific reason or further notice I grabbed one of the brands that was on sale and brought home. I read on the little manual that I could return it withing 60 days if I was not 100% satisfied (gross, I thought). That was part of their Satisfaction Guaranteed! :-)

Okay, so now I had it and I wanted to see how it would work.
I was a little concerned that I would receive a shock when I would use it. Oh well, I'm a traumatic post induced accident creature, what can I say? :-) This is a funny history.

Anyway, I charged the thing and when it was ready I went to try it.

I will never use stop using them again! The cleanliness sensation was felt immediately! It was like I went for a dentist visit for hygiene and they brushed my teeth with their little machine.

As there was two of them, I asked if my husband wanted to try it and he got hooked too. So now, we both have one and I will use it as recommended, twice a day and in between I will use the regular one.

Love it and recommend it!

I’m not a gym rat or a super fit person. Yes, I go to the gym on a regular basis, four to five times a week, depending on my work schedule. So I guess I fit in the average crowd.

I don’t think it is a bad thing taking your kid to work out with you. However, sometimes I think, fathers want their kids to grow their muscles way ahead of what I would consider normal.

First of all, I believe a ten year old child should be doing things that are more appropriate for their age, like playing soccer, basketball and all that great outdoor sports.

Yes, I’m suggesting you to go play with them instead of bringing them to your world. For that you will have a better time.

Okay, let me explain my why I’m talking about this. I was working out at the gym yesterday and I couldn't miss this big guy doing his routine exercise right in front of me. He was working out on this shred shoulder machine and he had two forty five pound on each side. He had his kid with him, a cute sweet looking skinny boy, probably 10 or 11 years old. No more than that.

I’m 5.1 with 105 pounds, so I’m not a big girl. That boy was shorter than me and I don’t need to say his weight was way lower than mine. His father, on the other hand as a tall guy, I’m a bad guesser but I would say that if I get close to him my head would probably fit under his arm if he extended his arm on a 90 degrees angle, so you figure his height and I’m not going to guess his weight as I would never get it. He was not fat but he was not that fit either.

When he finished his set he instructed the boy to remove one of the 45 pounds free weight and leave one on each side.

Then, for my surprise and disbelief it was the boy’s turn. I was in shock. Seriously, I really was. That skinny boy was going to do his first set with 45 pound on each side of the machine!

No, that was not possible that that father wanted his child to do a shred shoulder with that much weight on it.

The boy positioned himself and could barely reach the two handles and his proud dad was there instructing him how to place his feet, his body, etc.

Another girl passed by them and looked at me and rolled her eyes and shook her head. I return the head gesture.

The kid made an extreme amount of force to lift the weights and his little body was all shaky in the first attempt. I was almost jumping from my machine and grabbing the father’s shoulder and throwing him out of the gym. That’s what I wanted to do.

The body of the boy was all over the place. He shredded in a weird way for three times and couldn’t do anymore.

When he literally dropped the weights down he put one little hand on his back and another on the back of his neck. My heart broke instantly and although I’m not a mother I had a mother instinct right there and I wanted to run to him and hug him and tell him that he didn't need to do that, that he didn't need to please his crazy father and that he would get stronger in the appropriate time, at with the right age, not working out in the gym, not now.

I can’t stop thinking about that poor kid and I regret I didn't break the rules of etiquette. I should have talked to the father but I was concerned I was going to do something way out of line. Perhaps I should talk to my friend Elaine about this one.

How could his father not realize that that was too much for his kid, for any kid for this matter?

When I go to the gym I see all kinds of people doing their routines without any knowledge of what they are doing but to I see a father pushing their child to an extreme like this it’s not acceptable.

I think gyms should have age appropriate rules for machines or at least someone from the gym should be watching this discrepancies and approach whoever is doing an exercise incorrectly and help out.

Gyms here are different from Brazil. In Brazil when you sign up in a gym, you are assigned to a professional that will put a program together for you and go over the exercises and machines with you and then you receive a workout sheet marking the order of the exercises, how many times, how much weight you should do, etc. You will stick with that program for a certain period of time and then when it is time to change they will come to you and go over the new exercises and machines and so forth and so one. And whenever you have a problem or doubt you just check it with them or they come see you on a regular basis to correct your position etc.

It is probably like what they do here when you hire the personal trainer. But in Brazil it is a standard.

I can’t say how many times I see people wandering around the gym trying to figure out the machines. Some give up and go to another machine, some manage to figure it out and do the exercise, but I wonder if they know what is that for, what benefit they will get from it. No wonder why most of people that go to the gym can’t get the results they expect. They don’t have any instruction. It’s all a guessing game and that’s probably the reason many people give up after they go for a couple of months.