L1 Spinal Cord Injury / Menlo Park, California
As a child, Alina lived in three different countries before her family emigrated from Russia to the United States. She attended Brown University to study Neuroscience and Molecular Biology before moving to California to attend Stanford Graduate School in the Genetics Department.
An avid outdoor lover, she has enjoyed hiking, cross-country skiing, and biking for most of her life. At Stanford she became active in the rock climbing community and helped organize talks and teach classes. She served as president of the Stanford Alpine Club for two years.
On October 31st, 2015, Alina fell 60 feet while rock climbing in Yosemite National Park. The fall fractured her L1 vertebra, thumb, scapula, several ribs, and deflated her lung. She was flown by helicopter to Stanford Hospital where surgeons fused five vertebrae of her spine to stabilize it. She was paralyzed from the waist down when she woke up.
She is working hard, every day, towards the goal of walking again and independence when it comes to exploring the outdoors. Since the fall, Alina has started swimming and biking. After training for many months on an exercise bike at home, she was able to bike around her neighborhood using a recumbent leg cycle. Six months after the fall, her recovery doesn’t seem to be slowing down. She feels like she has infinite energy to devote to physical therapy.
Getting Back Up is proud to support Alina with a scholarship to continue receiving the therapy she needs at Neuroworx and the Absolute Center in Sandy, Utah.
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