Brandon Petrucci

Dear Athletes Helping Athletes,
My name is Brandon Petrucci. I am 18 years old. I'm a senior at Chaparral High School. I stayed back my junior year due to my accident. I have been very athletic and competitive my whole life. My paralysis limits me to many sports because I also have little use of my hands. I had the opportunity to ride a hand cycle the other day at a camp. It was great to be on a bike again. A friend of mine, Ricky, also has a hand cycle so I am hoping that this is a sport we will be able to do together. I am looking forward to being able to compete again. And getting involved in other programs.

Thank you for your consideration,
Brandon
August, 2005


To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Kathleen Ryan. My son is Brandon Petrucci. He was injured in a car accident on February 6, 2004. Brandon was the passenger in my son Tim's truck. They were coming home from their dad's house that evening when a coyote ran into the road in from of them. Tim swerved the truck to miss it and overcompensated. While trying to get the vehicle under control they hit a rock and the truck launched into the air landing on the roof of Brandon's side, crushing his spinal cord at C6 and C7. In the past year and a half, Brandon has regained a lot of muscle tone in his upper body and some use of his left hand.

Brandon has always been a very active, outgoing kid. We took the training wheels off his bicycle at the age of 3. Brandon started riding a motorcycle at the age of 4. He started competing at the BMX track at the age of 5, always placing in the top three. He got the opportunity to race in the nationals. Over the years, Brandon has played soccer, baseball, football, and he loved to skate and snowboard. He started wrestling at the age of 13. He was a Varsity letterman at Chaparral High School as a freshman. Keeping fit and active was one of the most important things in Brandon's life. He was very proud of his physical appearance. Brandon was in his junior year and still very competitive when the accident happened. Within two weeks, he had turned to skin and bones. I think that was one of the hardest things for him.

Brandon did a year of hard work with a personal trainer who had experience with project walk. That was very good for him, but unfortunately, we could no longer continue that type of therapy due to financial reasons. We attended the wheelchair camp yesterday in San Diego where Brandon had the opportunity to ride one of the hand cycles. I spoke with Fred about your program. We are very excited about the opportunity for Brandon to have a bike. Physically, it would be so great for him. For me, seeing him riding a bicycle again was wonderful. I'm hopeful it is something we can start doing as a family again. I know that there are many types of sporting activities that Brandon could compete in and I'm very hopeful that he will get that part of his life back.

I thank you for this opportunity and I hope you will consider Brandon's application. I think this could make a big difference in his life.

Sincerely,
Kathleen Ryan