SPLORE Ooohaha!

Throughout the SPLORE community, several of our participants get involved with a wide range of programs that SPLORE has to offer. Meet Ashlee and Amee, two sisters that have been involved with SPLORE events for the last couple of years and are now “Professional Adventure Girls!”

Here is what they have to say about some of their favorite list of adventures they’ve been on with SPLORE:

“Some of the fun things that I, Ashlee, have gotten to do with SPLORE are: rafting, rock climbing and of course, my favorite winter things are dog sledding and snowshoeing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming; it was tons of fun! I have also learned how to ski up at Snowbird, which was so much fun too!”

“Some of the fun things that I Amee have done with SPLORE are rock climbing, river rafting, Monday Night Connections, pumpkin carving, tie-dying and movie nights.”

What do the girls have on their list next? More of everything they just listed! At first the girls were a little nervous to participate in some of the events, but once they got going and knew they had a SPLORE buddy to help them along, all fears were erased and they started to challenge themselves on their next outing. For example, Ashlee loves rafting but she’s unsure of rock climbing and Amee loves rock climbing but she’s unsure of rafting. The two decided to team up and said, “I’ll try your favorite activity if you try my favorite activity.” By the end of this summer, both girls have tried something new, shouting, “woohoos!” and, “SPLORE Ooohahas!” at the end of each trip.

The Magic of SPLORE is two sisters supporting each other, stepping out of their comfort zones to try something new and growing in confidence.

The Magic of SPLORE is:

This post was written by Megan Beaty, an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer that wrote this as a reflection upon a year of service at SPLORE.

It’s like that Adam Sandler Comedy “50-first dates.” If you’re familiar, you know that the flick is about Henry (Adam Sandler) who falls in love with Lucy (Drew Barrymore) one sunny Hawaiian morning at a diner. They share laughs over breakfast and Henry is convinced that he has finally met the girl of his dreams. Everything seems to be going great—she falls for him, he falls for her and the plot should lead to a perfect, “and they lived happily ever after…” but there’s a catch: Lucy has suffered from a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) which affects her short term memory retention. Every morning she wakes up and remembers virtually nothing about the day before, including the fact that she had a simply wonderful time with her new found love, Henry. Henry wakes up every morning for the rest of their life and vows to make Lucy fall in love with him for that day.

This is a fictional Hollywood chick-flick perfectly tailored to pull the emotional heart strings of every 20-something woman in America. We melt over the romantic idea of a woman who can’t remember the events of the day before falling in love with a man who’s every moment is spent reminding her of how she feels about him.

Warp back to the real world:

There are real people, probably living in your neighborhood, who have acquired a TBI and spend each day struggling to remember daily events, personal information and finding it near impossible to transfer any short term memories into long term memories. These are the people who often find making friends difficult, maintaining even the strongest pre-injury relationships, and holding a job difficult, at best. In severe cases, memory is not the only thing affected. Often times mobility, speech, social skills, the ability to live independently and ability to return to “normal” life is out the window.

These are the people who find the magic in SPLORE programming. Imagine yourself to have a fairly involved traumatic brain injury: You’ve lost your job, your spouse and children chose to move out of the picture, you require assistance to perform daily living skills like cooking, driving a car and using the bathroom. You have minimal income, below the poverty level, thanks to Disability wages. And forget about taking vacations…they cost too much and you have no transportation…never mind the fact that you can’t take care of your basic needs without a care provider.

Then you hear about SPLORE. An organization that understands your brain injury and it’s implications, provides support financially, offers you a ride and a personal care-provider (free of charge), and creates more than a vacation—SPLORE creates an experience, that even people who have memory deficits find memorable. Impossible?

Let me tell you that I have witnessed the magic of SPLORE. Let me tell you that it happens all the time and has been happening for 28 years. Let me TRY to put an intangible and indescribable feeling into words for you.

The Magic of SPLORE is:

Tim Paxton, a man with a TBI, who uses a wheelchair for mobility because his balance is, at best, “iffy” during a “normal” day. He’ll leave his wheelchair at home for a weekend dog sledding trip in Jackson, WY, and walks like a champ for three days with only an arm for balance. Who calls the SPLORE office and asks for specific staff members and specific upcoming events, but can’t remember to take his daily medication or where he laid down his sunglasses. Who struggles to take steps without assistance, but literally climbs half-way up a mountain in Big Cottonwood Canyon with a SPLORE buddy climber for support.

“Dennis James Hughes from Indianapolis, Indiana,” (he re-introduces himself with this name once every couple of hours), who finds joy in rafting, builds relationships with new people and has people take pictures so he can try to remember the trip later.

Debbie, who’s husband and children found her brain injury to be too much to handle and left her after a car accident several years back, who says she finds strength and hope thanks to the compassionate and fun-loving staff on each program.

Brian, who uses a wheelchair, being transferred from solid ground onto a 16 ft inflatable raft with an adapted seat on the front deck, only to launch into class 2/3 rapids the next day. The peace and relaxation he found sitting on the beach painting pictures and wooden souvenirs for his children back home. Waking up pumped to be on the river, and screaming “Who’s your daddy!?!?!” as the raft crashes through every wave.

Ervin, whose hesitant and cynical outlook on the rafting trip was painfully apparent the first night of a three day trip. He sat in the car angry, for the first three hours and scowled when he finally emerged for dinner and we asked him to sing for his supper. The magic is the apology for his angry behavior at the campfire on day two. The magic is a man who never thought he’d ever be able to raft, manning the oars all through the flat water sections of the Colorado River. The magic is a man who seems very closed off and angry on day one, forming relationships and literally hugging his guide at the end of the trip.

Those are stories about only ONE population, from only TWO different trips, in only ONE year from, only ONE SPLORE staff’s experience. On any given SPLORE program, there are people of every age, every ability level and every walk of life. SPLORE is a place where clients, staff and volunteers connect with nature, with themselves and with other people on a level that isn’t alive in the everyday grind. Imagine how many lives have been touched and how much magic has been made in 28 years of providing year-round, outdoor recreation programming for people with disabilities and special needs. Imagine the magic that is still to be created.

So, while Hollywood creates magic on the big screen, SPLORE is creating magic in your backyard. And, yeah, it’s not as publicized and we certainly don’t bring in as much money, but believe me when I say that the “Magic of SPLORE” is more powerful and more heartfelt than anything produced by a Hollywood screenplay. This storyline is real life. While the words on this page are powerful, they can’t describe the excitement of watching someone live out something seemingly impossible. It can’t simulate the on-fire feeling you get from connecting with new people on a personal level. And you can’t fabricate the real excitement and amazement you find in yourself and other people. You just can’t make this stuff up. The magic of SPLORE is just that – magic – and it captures the intangibles of life at their pinnacles.