Sometimes all it takes is a single moment to change your life forever.
In 2013, a father of three came face to face with his greatest fear—the fear of never seeing his children grow up.
On his way to a takeaway, an attempt was made on his life.
A single bullet entered his back and exited through his chest, severing his spinal cord and damaging one of his lungs beyond repair. He had no involvement with firearms or gang culture and no reason whatsoever to become the victim of such a senseless act.
Over the next 72 hours, the city's best doctors fought to save his life, exhausting the hospital's entire supply of his blood type in the process.
At one stage, he was given just a 20% chance of survival.
But his sheer determination would not allow an insignificant piece of metal to decide the rest of his story.
Against all odds, he woke up.
That was the beginning of a completely different life.
Losing the use of his legs meant learning to live all over again. Every day brought new challenges, new frustrations and new barriers. Yet every obstacle became another reason to keep moving forward.
Instead of allowing those barriers to define him, he became determined to remove them—not only for himself, but for others living with similar physical challenges.
To this day, he celebrates the simple fact that he is still breathing.
That appreciation for life became something much bigger than survival.
It became a purpose.
Still Breathing was created from lived experience and built on one simple belief:
Everyone deserves the opportunity to live with greater independence, dignity and freedom.
Every product we create, every idea we develop and every challenge we choose to solve comes from that purpose.
We know what it feels like when life changes forever.
We also know what it takes to keep going.
Still Breathing isn't the story of what happened that day.
It's the story of everything that happened afterwards.
Sign Up For Updates“I'm still breathing, appreciating every breath.”
— L. Smith