Cody Unser opens up about living with paralysis
Posted by Lorrie Lynch This week, PBS stations across the country will start airing Cody, a documentary following Cody Unser, the daughter of famed race car driver Al Unser Jr. Cody, 22, was a 12 year old playing basketball when she started having trouble breathing and her legs went numb. In 20 minutes, she was paralyzed. She was diagnosed with transverse myelitis, a condition where your own immune system attacks your spinal cord. Since then, Cody has turned her disability into a passion, lobbying for stem cell research, creating the Cody Unser First Step Foundation, and getting a degree in Biopolitics from the University of Redlands. Our Steve Thompson watched the film (narrated by Glenn Close) and says it is an invasive and emotional look into the life of someone with a disability and the challenges she faces. Steve spoke with Cody about the film, so click read more to learn about her plans to change politics and to one day walk again. And click on the clip below to get a sneak peek at the film.
What made you want to open up your life to a film crew for this documentary?
Ever since I started doing some lobbying with the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation in D.C. for stem cell research and quality of life programs, I came up with the idea of wanting to do a video diary. I was sort of telling politicians what my life was like, but I think video captures more than words can. I already had the idea in my mind; it was just a matter of time and the right place.
The film showed a lot of your life. Was there any time where you felt uncomfortable in front of the cameras?
We’ve done four showings of the film so far and people have come up to me and said, ‘Cody it’s so great that you’re so honest and that you show your vulnerable side,’ and stuff like that. But it’s so weird to hear that, because I just feel like I’m being myself. I don’t feel like I’m doing anything out of the ordinary. It’s weird, because I’ve sort of lived my life around cameras ever since I was born with my dad being a race car driver. I already knew about the media world. So it wasn’t necessarily a huge leap for me to do this.
How have you been able to keep such a positive attitude over the past 10 years?
To be able to start the foundation and make the paralysis bigger than myself was, for me, my coping mechanism. For me to be to able to put a face with transverse myelitis, and to get doctors talking, and to make a mission of it, that’s what actually helped me. I don’t think that I would have been able to get through it any other way.
Congratulations on graduating. What are your plans now?
My goal is to lobby and do the stuff I was already doing, but at a stronger level. I plan to cause more trouble.
How important is stem cell research for you?
Stem cell research is going to make me walk again. But, I think exercising like the film showed is going to be huge. On one hand, stem cell research is going to help, but then you can’t just lie around and wait for that to happen. You have to stay active and healthy to maintain your body for that moment. The bike has given me more muscle mass back that I lost. So, stuff like that is definitely going to be needed.
Do you think you will ever let cameras into your life again?
I think there are certain things in my life that I want to shoot again, like when I want to have a baby or when I walk again. You know, things like that that I want to mark and have on film.
Comments (1)
We are so very proud to call Cody Unser one of our own at the University of Redlands.
After high school, Cody left for Southern California to study at the University of Redlands and its innovative Johnston Center, where students working with faculty design their own degrees.
There she designed her own major, called "biopolitics," the first of its kind in the nation, designed to help her "bridge the gap" between politicians and medical scientists.
In May, she was awarded the Global Impact Award, one of the university's highest honors.
Cody didn't have a typical college career, either. For her junior year, she was followed by cameras filming the documentary and the everyday challenges she faces.
Cody excelled through it all with her strong personality and drive and has prepared herself to catapult to the national stage as a top advocate.
Through her Cody First Step Foundation, she already has been instrumental in raising research funds and public awareness for people with spinal injuries and paralysis, injured war veterans in particular.
Recently she was personally invited by the President's Special Assistant for Disability Policy to attend Obama's recent Town Hall meeting in Albuquerque.
For those who have been fortunate to travel with her along her educational journey, we know for Cody this is only the beginning...
Much success to Cody in the future. Go Cody Go!