Sabrina Cohen

Waiting for the morning session to begin . . . a sad moment for me when they turn out the lights. This room goes completely dark, and the panel sits way up on a stage far from where I am, next to the camera crew that's making the webcast.

CC readers will know a few of these panelists: Sabrina Cohen, Wise Young, Hans Keirstead; I'll get to the others was they show up.

Sabrina is first:

I personally have had a remarkable couple of days and am delighted to be here
1992, halloween night, i was a sophomore in high school. my best friend and i jumped into a car with 3 guys and another girl, i was a freespirited teenager. by 9:30 that night i was a c3-c4 quadriplegic. we had split up into two cars i sat in the back seat without a seatblet. the cars got into a drag race going 90 mph n a 30 mph zone. the other car lost control and hit us . . . we hit a tree. all the other kids were fine.

i woke up a couple of days later not knowing where i was, surrounded by friends and family. 2 months in intensive care, then wheeled into a cafeteria . . .i saw all these other people in chairs and realized i had become one of them

pt for many months . . . my mom insisted that i get back to school . . completely paralyzed from the neck down, a nurse pushing me through the halls. . . finished on time with my class.

became a public speaker, though i didn't want to. i was always talking about driving to young kids and teenagers . .. peer pressure, drag racing, seatbelts . . . went to the university of miami, psychology, advertising . . . started my own company in 2003

a year into my business, in april of 2004 on a jewish holiday i went to jackson memorial hospital for pt . . . saw a poster advertising danny neumann . . . waited for 3 hours to see him. he was phenomenal

next up was bernie siegel, who lit something up in me within 2 minutes of opening his mouth. he invited me to work with him, which i did for 2 years

in 2006 i decided to channel some of my frustration with the lack of progress . .. started the sabrina cohen foundation

i travel and speak to other organizations . .. now have a documentary in progress . . . this year will announce a grant raised for furthering science

i need to do a quick exercise.

everybody put your pens down, put your hands in your laps . . . when i say go, sit up straight, stay still, and don't move a muscle . . . ready?

go

no cheating

if you have an itch, forget it

we're halfway through

almost there

5 4 3 2 1

okay. raise your hand if that felt like forever . .. that was one minute.

for us in chairs, it always feels like forever, no matter how long we've been diagnosed
i wanted you to do that exercise to get us out of this condition
today when the conference is over it's not an end, it's a beginning.

spread the education as much as you can -- i know i will.

love you, sabrina!

she's just perfectly composed, very clear and of course beautiful.