Every day in Australia, someone is told they may never walk again.
One of those people was Rachael Presdee, of Caringbah.
Ms Presdee was left a paraplegic after an accident at the Soho Theatre, London, in 2012.
She was working as a stage manager for the production of a play.
On set, she opened a door to the stage, and fell three metres to the ground, breaking two vertebrae in her back.
Ms Presdee, who was 36 at the time, spent six months in hospital undergoing rehabilitation, and has been able to regain some movement in her legs, though still unable to walk.
“It was one of those things that never should have happened,” she said.
“I had never broken a bone in my body...but accidents happen.”
She now studies law, and works as a peer support mentor for Spinal Cord Injury Australia, sharing her story with others.
“More research into spinal cord injuries is hugely important,” she said.
“Only recently has funding started to trickle into this area, and it can have a flow-on effect to related conditions.”
To bring awareness of spinal cord injury, the nation’s launch of Big Day Off hopes to raise money to research people affected by the condition.
The Big Day Off campaign was established by a group of people who were motivated by the experience of young AFL player, James McQuillan, who became a quadriplegic in 2014.
A business can participate in the campaign by allocating a set number of additional paid days off.
Staff then buy raffle tickets to win the extra days off, with all proceeds raised going to spinal cord injury support services..
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