‘Life is about the journey’

Members of the community gathered last month to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the township’s Project Walk New Jersey, whose partnership with the nonprofit Help Hope Live has impacted thousands of people in neurological recovery.

Help Hope Live is a national nonprofit that specializes in engaging communities in secure, tax-deductible fundraising campaigns for people who need a transplant or are affected by a catastrophic injury or illness. Since 1983, campaigns organized by Help Hope Live have raised more than $193 million to pay patient expenses, assisting more than 25,000 families.

Project Walk is an internationally recognized organization that provides improved quality of life for people affected by paralysis, mobility-related disorders and neurological conditions. It does so through intense activity-based recovery programs, education and training.

Project Walk has successfully treated individuals with conditions that include spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, stroke, ALS (know as Lou Gehrig’s disease), Parkinson’s and declined mobility in the elderly. The organization offers one-on-one physical training and ways to strengthen muscles and move differently.

Project Walk’s work has been life-changing for 31-year-old spinal cord injury survivor Lauren Shevchek, who was injured three weeks after her 19th birthday in a diving accident. Having been a competitive swimmer since the age of 6, she instinctively performed a racing type of dive into a black bottom pool without lights that made it difficult to judge its perimeter.

Shevchek fractured three cervical vertebrae; the middle one exploded into a burst fracture and further damaged her spinal column. Since her accident, she’s been navigating her “new normal” of paralysis with determination and community support.

But to go from an athletic and independent teen to a woman reliant on others for 24/7 caregiving and health support, Shevchek needed intensive therapy to regain as much independence and mobility as possible. Project Walk became a source of tangible hope, with intensive specialized and exercise-based therapy programs that enable people like Shevchek to pursue exactly the therapies they need to physically and mentally thrive after a life-changing event.

But cost can often be a barrier despite the proven medical impact of exercise-based rehabilitation: Therapies are often not covered by insurance.

“Annually, my life with paralysis costs over $100,000 out of pocket,” Shevchek explained.

That’s where nonprofits like Help Hope Live come in. Headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania, the organization provides fundraising support to thousands of individuals and families facing out-of-pocket costs they can’t cover alone. Project Walk regularly refers clients to Help Hope Live.

Several times a year, the latter offers a community day at Project Walk to help families take their first steps toward medical fundraising. Project Walk also maintains a special fundraising page with Help Hope Live to help fill the gap for clients when therapy is financially out of reach. 

Shevchek began fundraising with Help Hope Live a month after her injury. While engaging in online fundraising and holding local events such as an annual golf tournament, she has since become an ambassador for the organization, helping others impacted by paralysis to find it and start fundraising. 

Shevchek has embraced her community, her faith, her voice and her talents over the past 12 years, celebrating milestones ranging from sharing her cause at Phillies games to acting in the 2021 film “Interabled.”

“Life is about the journey,” she observed. “In addition to strength in me that I never thought possible, I have found a community of unwavering support.”

Project Walk New Jersey is located at 521 Fellowship Road, Suite 155. Call (856) 439-6772. Help Hope Live can be reached at (800) 642-8399.