Laura Grabowski
I want to be able to cook a feast for my friends and family.Laura Grabowski
Laura’s Story
Living in San Diego allowed Laura the opportunity to embrace the warm climate and engage in adventurous outdoor activities. When she wasn’t tending to her career as a scientist for Novartis, a pharmaceutical company, Laura could be found outdoors mountain biking, paddle boarding, snowboarding, and doing yoga. “I had a really, really good life before I was injured,” said the outdoor enthusiast.
But life took a sudden change in April of 2019 when the then 43-year-old was on a casual mountain bike ride. Something went wrong and Laura landed in the ER with a spinal cord injury at the C7 level.
While it’s no secret that Laura has been itching to get back to the activities that she loves, she knows she has a mountain to climb. But it’s a journey she’s up for and one that has already shown signs of progress. Because of the nature of her work as a cancer researcher, Laura was not able to return to her job that required fine hand movements and motor skills. Instead, she dedicates her time to rehabilitation. She does physical therapy sessions five days a week at Reneu Health and NeuroEx in San Diego.
INJURY
April 2019 – C7 spinal cord injury while mountain biking
STUDY PARTICIPATION
- SpineX Upper Limb Clinical Trial
- Gripping Recovery
- In-clinic participation from February 2021-to-June 2021
- At home participation from February 2022 through August 2022
- Regained core strength and endurance as well as better use of hands
Treatment
Laura was one of the first participants to enroll in the SpineX SCONE upper limb clinical study. She began the in-clinic portion of the trial study in February of 2021 that concluded in June of the same year. She entered the at-home phase of the study in February of 2022 that allowed her to use the device during everyday activities for six months.