JACOB ROBINSON

MY STORY

 

​It was his senior year in high school. He felt on top of the world as king of campus, playing football, basketball, volleyball, and rugby. He was a student who took AP and community college courses, worked two jobs, and traveled any time he had the opportunity. His name is Jacob Robinson, and he was your [extra]ordinary teenager that indulged in his invincibility.

 

Three weeks into his varsity football season, Tuesday night practice finished the same as many had before. Heading home, he lost control of the car and hit a telephone pole going 50 MPH. He may have been all right had he not made the terrible decision to not wear a seatbelt. Never so quickly could his impenetrable world come crashing down. Twenty-four hours of surgery, two months of hospital stay, and years of ongoing therapy have left him a T-9 Paraplegic in an unknown world.

 

Since 2008, Jake has gone on to attend the University of California, San Diego and obtain a bachelors degree in biology. In 2010, he joined a research group at UC San Diego Center for Neural Repair studying the regeneration of the nervous system after spinal cord injury with the use of stem cells. An obvious passion for the field has driven Jake to pursue a Master’s Degree in Biology. After graduating, Jake plans to eventually apply to medical school and obtain a medical degree, using his experience as a patient to be an ardent and empathetic doctor.

 

The night of Jake’s injury, one of his biggest fears was the inability to travel. Overcoming not only this fear but physical challenges of doing so, Jake made a return visit to Kenya, Africa where he had made a humanitarian trip as an able-body the year before. Returning to see the children in the orphanages he had gotten close brought Jake to realize that he could do anything he wanted to.

 

In 2012, Jake wanted to go abroad like the rest of his classmates. Finding a suitable option, he decided to go on Semester at Sea (SAS), a program that circumnavigated the Atlantic Ocean, visiting 14 countries, 16 ports, 4 continents, all in 108 days. The experience was surreal, allowing Jake to see many of the places he thought he would only be able to see pictures of just 4 years prior.

 

While Jake would do anything to snowboard again, he found an alternative way to satisfy his cravings for the slopes. Through the USARC program in Big Bear Mountain, Jake has been able to ski almost every season since his accident. Finally receiving a grant to help pay for the very expensive monoski he has to use for adaptive skiing, he was able to make the purchase in December 2013. The ski will give him the freedom to dominate the snow in any mountain around the world, which he plans to do as soon as he is financially able.

 

While Jake’s life took a turn for the worst in September of 2008, he has been resilient, making positive choices to overcome the challenges he has been faced with. While he has learned a lot, one of the things he strongly beliefs in now is the power of choice; whether that choice is wearing a seatbelt, driving safely, putting a smile on your face, or finding the motivation within to accomplish any goal. The power of choice is something he believes is strongly under-utilized. Through his expeierences, Jake’s story is one that can teach us all.