Boston Marathon runner overcomes spinal injuries to support others
Bellefeuille is running for Journey Forward in Canton
By Jennifer Eagan
Click here for updates on this story
CANTON, Massachusetts (WCVB) — On a chilly February morning, Grace Bellefeuille trains for the 129th Boston Marathon.
She pushes through residual pain from two devastating hockey injuries. The first suffered in 2016 when Bellefeuille was a junior at Lawrence Academy in Groton, Massachusetts.
“I was cross-checked in the neck. I immediately fell and had a spinal cord injury that caused paralysis,” she said.
She was rushed to Boston Children’s Hospital and recalls not being able to feel her legs as doctors and nurses poked and prodded her. The swelling around her cervical cord subsided and she eventually gained feeling back.
Three months later, she returned to hockey but was injured again.
“I was hit from behind again and paralyzed again from the waist up,” Bellefeuille said.
The two injuries left her with lasting back pain, migraines and a heart condition. Still, she wanted to conquer Boston’s 26.2-mile-long route and do it in honor of an organization like the one that helped her.
Bellefeuille is running for Journey Forward in Canton, a nonprofit dedicated to bettering the lives of those with spinal cord injuries and disability.
“These people are coming in here every day and doing what I had to do every day, and it takes a physical toll, but your mental toll is just as affected,” Bellefeuille said.
Journey Forward’s client work one on one with paralyzed individuals, tailoring an intense, exercise-based routine to their needs and helping them to improve motor function.
“Here at Journey Forward, we teach people how to get out of the wheelchair and overcome their condition,” Founder and President Dan Cummings said. “The ultimate goal is to walk again, but before that comes independence and quality of life.”
Bellefeuille is hoping to raise $12,000 for Journey Forward when she takes on the Boston Marathon for the second year in a row on April 21.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
