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THE STORY BEHIND THE FOUNDATION
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Join Us in
Boston May 12:
"Adjustment to Disability: An Individual and
Family Process"
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The Travis Roy Foundation was established in 1997
to help spinal cord injury survivors and to fund
research into a cure. Inspired by Travis' own
story, the lifeblood of the Travis Roy Foundation
has been the generosity of individuals,
corporations and foundations across North America.
This generosity has made an immediate impact on
the lives of many individuals.
Since 1997 the Travis Roy Foundation has
distributed more than $2.5 million in
individual
grants and to research projects and rehabilitation
institutions across North America. The individual
grant funds have been used to modify vans and to
purchase wheelchairs, computers, ramps, shower
chairs, and other adaptive equipment to help
paraplegics and quadriplegics live their lives.
The Travis Roy Foundation is uniquely positioned
to touch individual lives with its focus on
providing adaptive equipment and sponsoring
research. In the US alone, there are approximately
250,000 people currently living with a spinal cord
injury and 13,000 new injuries each year. The
Travis Roy Foundation could help many more
deserving applicants if funds were available.
Dedicated to Spinal
Cord Injury Survivors and Research
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While growing up in Yarmouth, Maine, with strong
odds working against him,
Travis Roy
always dreamed of playing Division I college
hockey. At every level, each time the competition
was raised a notch, Travis not only met the
challenge but exceeded it.
On October 20, 1995, only eleven seconds into the
first shift of his college hockey career at Boston
University, Travis'
dream was cut cruelly short when he shattered his
fourth and fifth cervical vertebra, severely damaging his
spinal cord. Travis Roy is now a quadriplegic,
with no feeling below his shoulders and movement
only in his right arm. With limited control of his
right bicep, Travis is able to conduct simple yet
key tasks such as operating the joystick of his
wheelchair.
Travis has faced his disability with the same
sense of optimism and determination that
distinguished his hockey career. A May 2000
graduate of Boston University with a degree in
public relations, he is a popular motivational
speaker and is actively involved with the
Foundation. In 1998, he published a book,
Eleven Seconds, based on his life. In
2004, he made his debut as a television college
hockey analyst with WMTW-TV8 in Portland, ME, and
in 2005, he worked as a color analyst during
ESPNU's national coverage of the 2005 NCAA D-I
college hockey playoffs.
A strong and articulate spokesman for spinal cord
injury survivors, Travis asked that a charitable
fund be created in his name, focusing on helping
others and on promoting research.
To further its charitable purpose, the Travis Roy
Foundation welcomes
individual, corporate and foundation support.
Every gift helps and contributions by check, gifts
of securities and other property may be made to
the Travis Roy Foundation, 111 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02199-7613.
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