Why are we raising money for nerve regeneration research?

Hi my name is Rob, founder of Stuck A Nerve. I’m not the type of person to ever want attention on me or to really open up about what I’m going through in general. I’ve always been the type of person who when seeing a problem immediately gets to work on how to solve it. I founded Struck A Nerve for this reason.

On August 16th, 2021 I was in a nearly fatal motorcycle accident that left me hospitalized for two months and essentially bedridden at home for another seven. I shattered my right femur in three places also being an open fracture. I was told that with how severe the injury was I could never run long distances again. I shattered my left wrist with such severity that my surgeon told me it was one of the worst ways to break a wrist and would be surprised if I could ever bear significant weight into it. The bones in my right hand were shattered, my collarbone broken and dislocated. I also broke multiple vertebrae, and endured severe nerve injures to six of my nerves. Three out of the six nerves were fully avulsed. That’s just to name a few of my injuries.

The aftermath of the injuries has been a long and brutal journey. To this day, I am still recovering and have days where I’m left in unbearable pain. I’m often still woken up from the pain of multiple of my ongoing injuries. Immediately after my accident, my left arm was useless, I wasn’t able to walk or even bend my left leg. My entire right upper extremity from my back, shoulder, arm, wrist, and hand were all completely paralyzed. My world had been turned upside down within the blink of an eye. However, I knew that to handle the stress and severity of this situation, I had to remain positive. I kept a smile everyday and worked as hard as I could to recover. I taught myself how to walk, and did countless hours of physical therapy, working as hard as I could to improve.

It was through countless hours of hard work, being disciplined with physical therapy and the constant pursuit of recovery, I was able to overcome / improve most of my physical injuries. However, I’m still recovering from some on-going issues, one of them being my nerve injuries.

Raising money for this cause is important to me because I want to help make an impact on nerve research and help others dealing with struggles like my own. With modern advancements in medical technology comes hope in the discovery of potential treatments. I hope to help donate the funds I raise to a lab discovering such cures through a variety of athletic fundraisers to show others that anything is possible. We hope to donate the money we raise to a lab specializing in nerve regeneration research to help those dealing with injuries like his. After careful consideration and review, we decided that all funds raised will be donated to The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at Kings College London through Professor Jonathon Corcoran. His lab specializes in a new oral drug for spinal cord injuries. More information on his research can be found through the following link.

It is through this passion that I am challenging myself to complete an Ironman despite only having use of one arm. I participated in his first ever Half Iron Man on June 9th as part of the Western Massachusetts 70.3. I am proud to say that I completed all three legs of the race, beating my goal of completing the 70.3 mile race in the 8.5 hour cut off time by finishing at just over 6 hours and 42 minutes.

On August 23, 2023, my doctors gave me the green light to start running again. From that day on, I have been training to complete an IRONMAN. in less than a year of training I’ve endured the difficult task of teaching myself how to swim, bike, and run with just one arm. I want to prove that no matter what anyone else says, even if an “expert” thinks you won’t be able to do something you need to push yourself beyond what you think is possible to show that nothing can hold you back if you don’t let it.

Pints For A Cause

By StruckANerve

Pints For A Cause