DANGERWOOD places individuals with spinal cord injuries and other forms of paralysis in a position to help themselves and others with the many problems that result from these conditions. DANGERWOOD facilitates a meeting of the minds and enables much of the disabled community to freely interact in an organized manner regarding these issues. It is a meeting place to collectively address the extensive needs and concerns often encountered on a daily basis. It provides the disabled community with the opportunity to learn from and aid one another.

Every person who has solved any of the countless problems from which MANY of us suffer, can now share that solution with everyone at DANGERWOOD. Think about it -- insights and advice from others who have done all the track work and found the answers. Now our quests for solutions can require less trial and error, replaced instead by information and recommendations provided from others that have already been there and done the homework.

In searching for solutions to our problems, no longer must we all be islands, having little alternative but to very likely repeat the mistakes and efforts of others before us. Together, through the use of DANGERWOOD, we can make things go much smoother for us all and assist one another in increasing the quality of our lives.

For new quadriplegics or anyone looking for information regarding the issues that accompany quadriplegia, DANGERWOOD represents probably your best shot at making it through your situation intact. Dangerwood is totally free of charge to you, and could offer you a way out of a very deep hole. It could help you solve your problems and aid you in starting your new disabled life or managing an existing one.

After being suddenly pulled into the seemingly endless chamber of horrors of spinal cord injury, new quads and their families have traditionally seen hell defined. They experience devastating heart ache, anguish and misery. In 1995, a broken neck left me paralyzed and helpless. The frustration, anguish and physical pain I experienced throughout my hospitalization and beyond was excruciating! The entire experience was tormenting! Once released from the rehabilitation hospital, I encountered adversity the likes of which NO ONE should have to go through. I swore then that someday I would find a way to improve the system. I was determined to mount a crusade that would drag the existing system kicking and screaming into a new era. Things had to get better. That\'s why I created DANGERWOOD.

DANGERWOOD has been designed to be the most informative and efficient source of key information to surviving with a spinal cord injury. It is a one-stop information Shangri-La, packed with solutions and insight. DANGERWOOD FACILITATES A POOLING OF INFORMATION AND SHARING OF KNOWLEDGE BETWEEN QUADRIPLEGICS, CAREGIVERS AND FAMILIES EVERYWHERE. It unites the disabled community. Combined, we hold the keys -- or at least any that exist -- to solving one another\'s problems and providing the hard found answers. Why must we, the disabled community, repeatedly venture out on our own to figure out that which those before us already have? It is time that we made it a little less hard on ourselves and each other, and stopped trying to figure it all out on our own. We need to all be able to work together, and now we have the means to do so.

For too long now, new quadriplegics have been routinely discharged from rehabilitation hospitals and facilities with little or no knowledge of how to survive in the world as a quadriplegic. We have been left in the dark without the benefit of any kind of transitional or after-care program to assist with the most vital aspects of our difficult adjustment to living with a disability.

When an individual suffers a spinal cord injury, the transformation that instantaneously takes place in that person\'s body is unbelievable! Quadriplegics like myself lose some or all function from the neck down -- including legs, arms and hands. We lose control of our bodily systems, including bowel and bladder. I am one of many who often experience bizarre sensation and pain that is off the charts. I can personally say that for me, the instant during which I became a quadriplegic felt like I was being wooshed into and through some gigantic wormhole. The speed with which my body went from healthy and functioning to being unbelievably messed up was shockingly swift.

For most quadriplegics there are typically no readily available clear-cut solutions to many of our problems. Also, it\'s hard to know where to look for the answers. With no support system in place to provide direction or guide us through these difficult situations and times, we find ourselves essentially left in the dark to figure out a myriad of problems. We are left on our own to solve the intricacies of a suddenly very complicated state of affairs.

We find ourselves in unfamiliar and hostile territory. Everything is different and a struggle, and our lives are suddenly at the mercy of something known as THE SYSTEM. We are faced with dozens of demanding and vital needs, many of which will go unrecognized or not be understood, and it\'s all far more than we can handle. Unprepared are we to address such issues as caregiver coverage, medical supplies and insurance issues, to name but a few. It\'s a tough system to work, and almost impossible to solve on one\'s own. New quads in particular find themselves in way over their heads.

There are so many things to try to figure out - more than anyone would ever imagine could exist. Nearly all of them need to be dealt with and resolved right away. There is so much to learn and take care of, and with a constant sense of urgency and very little time. The problems mount and the clock ticks, and it honestly seems like there\'s no way out. Even the most resourceful of us find that it can be extremely difficult and time-consuming to track down solutions and answers to the seemingly endless array of our disability-related problems.

We have had to figure out and plow through nearly everything on our own as though we were the very first quadriplegic ever. That makes no sense to me, since we are NOT the first quad, but rather one of many, most of who are all doing the same thing -- trying to wade through the never-ending muck. If we were to put our heads together and compare notes, we could save each other a lot of time and effort, and make better use of our time and energy. Instead, we are most likely spending a great deal of time reinventing the wheel, reproducing efforts previously made by others in our situation.

Many of the answers to our dilemmas are already out there, but where? I have found that, in most cases, they are known by other people living with disabilities similar to my own. Until now, it has been difficult to find a way to collectively address and discuss these things in any kind of organized fashion. It has been hard to find the right people to ask about it. Now, however, through DANGERWOOD, there\'s everybody to ask.

For those of you who know the answers to the questions, this represents a call to arms -- a moral imperative. It\'s an opportunity for you to make a huge difference in the lives of thousands, most of who are caught in the grips of a real-life nightmare. You know of what I speak -- YOU HAVE been there yourselves. Every day, the lives of others stricken with paralysis have taken on a sense of urgency the likes of which only YOU can understand. They face possibly insurmountable obstacles and certain gut wrenching grief.

YOUR experience and the knowledge YOU possess could very likely represent the difference between these people making the adjustment and surviving paralysis, or potentially living a life of despair! It\'s important that we all work together in order to improve the universal quality of life for ourselves and other quadriplegics. If we were to put our heads together and compare notes, we could save each other a lot of time and effort, and make better use of our time and energy. We are infinitely stronger together than we are divided, and now we have the opportunity to join forces and help one another in our fight to survive paralysis. Isn\'t it time we all began working together?

--Stephen L. Crowder a.k.a. Nick Danger, Founder of DANGERWOOD