Paralyzed Veterans of America Blog

Anita Bloom Ornoff was Paralyzed Veterans of America’s first female veteran member, a status she spent nearly a decade fighting to earn. Paralyzed by a spinal cord infection during Army training in 1943, she was discharged just months before a legal change would have made her eligible for full veteran status and GI benefits.Rather than […]

Every September, Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month brings renewed attention to the tens of thousands of Americans navigating life after a life-altering diagnosis. This year, that attention comes with an update. Paralyzed Veterans of America has released the fifth edition of “Yes, You Can!,” a guide that’s shaped how newly injured veterans and civilians learn […]

One is a U.S. Navy SEAL veteran, Paralympian, former PVA national president, and editor-in-chief. The other spent his career telling other people’s stories, from the Department of Defense to the U.S. Coast Guard.Together, Al Kovach and Chad Stewart can add “podcast host” to their resumes.Meet the co-hosts of “Voices of PVA,” Paralyzed Veterans of America’s […]

If you talk to almost anyone at this year’s National Veterans Wheelchair Games in Detroit, the conversation drifts quickly away from brackets and standings and toward something harder to put a medal around: the feeling of being seen again as an athlete, not just a patient.”I lost my leg in 2013, and it probably wasn’t […]

Karen Miller has heard the word “no” more times than most people could endure. She was told she might not be walking by age 40. She was discouraged from using her GI Bill because medical professionals questioned whether her injuries would allow her to complete college. Again and again, the focus was on what she […]

The squeal of tires on concrete. The sharp clanging of a wheelchair rugby collision. A roomful of strangers who somehow feel connected. This month, Huntington Place Convention Center in Detroit was alive with the sound of the 45th National Veterans Wheelchair Games. For the 500-plus veteran athletes who rolled into the Motor City, the medals […]

The first time Anna came to Miracle Field in Horsham, Pennsylvania, she cried and didn’t play. The second time, she cried but stepped up to bat once.Now she shows up ready to play, has chosen her own walk-up song, and hasn’t looked back.Her story is one of dozens already emerging from the Miracle Field of […]

In 1981, 77 veterans gathered to compete in seven events. 45 years later, ~500 veteran athletes from across the country will convene in Detroit for the 45th National Veterans Wheelchair Games — a milestone anniversary for what has grown into the world’s largest annual wheelchair sports and rehabilitation event designed exclusively for U.S. military veterans […]

A diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is life-changing under any circumstances. For veterans, it can feel especially isolating. It’s a battle fought not on foreign soil, but within the body of someone who already gave so much in service to this country. According to an American Academy of Neurology study, veterans are twice as […]

By the time a caregiver reaches out for help, the clock is already running. For veterans living with ALS, a disease that progresses relentlessly, stripping away speech, movement, and independence, there is no time to navigate the complex bureaucracy alone. That’s where Paralyzed Veterans of America steps in.Recently, a social worker at an ALS clinic […]