Every September, Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month creates an opportunity to recognize the individuals living with spinal cord injuries, share their stories, and continue building a world with greater access, understanding, and possibility.
At the High Fives Foundation, that work happens every day.
Since 2009, High Fives has supported individuals who have experienced life-changing injuries, including spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, amputations, and other mobility-limiting injuries. Through the Empowerment Fund, adaptive sports programs, healing resources, and a nationwide community, the Foundation helps athletes pursue recovery, independence, and the activities they love.
Awareness Through Action
Spinal cord injuries can change how someone moves through the world, but they do not define what that person can accomplish.
Across the High Fives community, athletes are skiing mountains, surfing waves, riding bikes, driving off-road vehicles, fishing rivers, competing at the highest levels of adaptive sports, and discovering entirely new passions.
Those experiences are about much more than recreation.
Adaptive sports can create opportunities to rebuild confidence, develop independence, connect with others who understand the journey, and experience the freedom of getting back outside.
Sometimes that starts with a first turn on a sit-ski. A first wave. A first trail ride. A first fish. Or simply seeing someone with a similar injury doing something you did not know was possible.
Creating Access After Injury
Recovery after a spinal cord injury looks different for everyone, and access to the right resources can make an enormous difference.
Through the High Fives Empowerment Fund, individuals with life-changing injuries can receive financial support for adaptive equipment, healing and rehabilitation services, medical equipment, programs, and other recovery needs.
In the first grant cycle of 2026 alone, High Fives awarded 123 grants totaling $500,500, including more than $359,000 toward adaptive equipment.
That equipment can become a bridge back to the activities and communities that make life meaningful.
High Fives also creates opportunities for athletes to experience adaptive sports through programs across snow, surf, bike, dirt, and fish. These programs provide access to specialized equipment, experienced coaches and guides, and, just as importantly, a community willing to figure things out together.
What Is Possible
Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month gives us a reason to talk about SCI. The High Fives community gives us thousands of reasons to rethink what life after injury can look like.
This September, we celebrate the athletes pushing boundaries, the families and caregivers supporting them, the professionals helping make recovery possible, and the communities creating greater access to adventure.
We also recognize that there is still work to do.
More accessible equipment. More inclusive spaces. More opportunities to participate. More education. More understanding.
High Fives Foundation will continue working toward that future, preventing life-changing injuries and providing resources and hope when they happen.
Because a spinal cord injury may change the path forward, but it does not eliminate the possibilities ahead.
September is Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month. Help us spread awareness, celebrate the SCI community, and continue expanding what is possible.
