Mission Statement: The QUAD Foundation is committed to assisting and supporting survivors of spinal cord injury resulting in quadriplegic paralysis. The foundation actively works to improve their quality of life through resource assistance, education, rehabilitation and research. We also strive to provide a support center for survivors and their families.
History
The QUAD Foundation is a nonprofit organization formed in 2003 to benefit quadriplegic survivors and their families in southern California. Our organization was formed after a devastating car accident involving a drunk driver left Pete Flynn, an active 20-year-old, quadriplegic. In the midst of the devastation, his mother, Debbie, found herself needing to make critical decisions with limited information and resources. She immediately began seeking a cure for her son: she looked into current spinal cord injury (SCI) research. She made contact with the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation (CDRF), the organization with access to the leading scientific advances and information. She talked to everyone she knew about SCI and the information that she had learned. And she decided that the next step she needed to take was to become a voice for all quadriplegic individuals. She needed to make sure they received the therapy necessary to live a full life and to make sure that every attempt was made to find the imminent cure.
Her friends and business contacts from the community came to her aid. Together, they formed the QUAD Foundation, dedicated to assisting and supporting survivors of spinal cord injury resulting in quadriplegic paralysis. Debbie Flynn is our Vice President, and she is the driving force behind our commitment to the quadriplegics of the greater San Diego County.
Our Objectives
Over the years we have provided many hours of on-site, home-based Ergys FES bike therapy at no charge to our clients, and we have donated many thousands of dollars to research. We also continue to help families of the newly injured with assistance and support.
This year, 2017, we celebrate 15 years since Pete’s injury and we are very excited about taking our Mission across this great country in support of Kay Ledson and the Warrior Momz Walk. Money raised will flow back into the communities and therapy centers that help us with fundraising events along the route as “recovery scholarships” for SCI clients. We want to make sure that they are able to benefit from incremental cures as they become available, and our clients must maintain a certain state of physical fitness and mental clarity to do that.
By mobilizing the fundraising, we enable our paralyzed community in twenty cities across our country to engage in local therapy and recovery programs where they live, selecting those programs most beneficial to their own personal progress. The Warrior Momz Walk begins here in southern California, September 2017, and we are proud to be a part of this historic inaugural Walk.
Future Plans
Our goal is to complete three Warrior Momz Walks over three years, growing our fundraising base and expanding our recovery reach with each successive year. We will do everything possible to garner more therapy dollars through government policy and fight to break through current insurance ceilings. The QUAD Foundation will do our part to fill in the gap until everyone living with a spinal cord injury has all the recovery therapy they need and desire, and we will continue to support this heroic community through our fundraising efforts.