FOR RELEASE: April
30, 2013
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina
Logue, 615-898-5081, gina.logue@mtsu.edu
MURFREESBORO —
Jennifer Austin’s life changed forever on Sept. 15, 2006.
She’s hoping her life will change forever again on May 10,
2013.
The 26-year-old MTSU graduate student in the Department of
Health and Human Performance needs votes to become one of three people in the
United States to win a fully equipped van that will enable her to drive herself
wherever she needs to go.
Austin, who is paralyzed from the chest down, is a
contestant in the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association competition.
If she wins, it will be a giant move forward in her
continuing quest to regain more control over her life following a 2006
hit-and-run accident on Interstate 24.
“The whole point of going to graduate school is for better
career opportunities, to really take that last step in independence and be able
to drive again,” Austin said. “That’s going to open so many other doors for
me.”
At present, Austin’s caregivers from At Home Care of
Murfreesboro transport her where she needs to go. When the weather is nice, she
drives herself to class in her electronic wheelchair from her first-floor
apartment at Campus Crossings.
Tennessee Vocational Rehabilitation Services is helping her
manage, but she aspires to a well-paying job in the health professions so that
she can pay for her therapy and care herself. Being able to drive herself to
her ultimate place of employment would help make that possible.
“It would have an automatic ramp that comes down, which
would allow me to drive my chair up into the van, right into the driver’s
seat,” Austin says of the grand prize she wants so much. “There are special
locks that would lock down my chair for safety when I’m driving.”
Austin was injured while driving home to Cowan, Tenn., on I-24
seven years ago when an SUV swerved into her car, propelling it into the
median. The car flipped several times.
Police told her they believe she would not have survived had
she not been ejected through the windshield.
Austin was flown to Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, where
her spleen and part of her left lung were removed.
She has minimal use of her arms and hands. Everything else
is paralyzed.
To this day, the perpetrators of the hit-and-run accident
remain at large, but Austin says she has moved on.
She credits MTSU’s Disabled Student Services with helping
her take notes.
“That’s what sets MTSU apart,” Austin said. “They’re so
passionate about helping students.”
Of course, it helps to have a supportive family. Austin
still goes home to Cowan every weekend to see her parents and sister.
“They are the complete reason why I’m still here and able to
do all this,” Austin said.
To vote for Austin, go to http://www.mobilityawarenessmonth.com/entrant/jennifer-austin-cowan-tn/,
enter your information and agree to the terms.
To get an extra vote each day click on the “want an extra
vote” icon and answer the question in order to receive two votes instead of
one. You must answer the question before you submit your vote.
Only one vote per IP address is allowed per day, but
individuals may vote as many times per day as they wish from their cell phones
until the end of the contest.
At the end of the competition, the judges will read the
individual stories of entrants who made it into the top five percent of vote-getters.
The final day to vote is Friday, May 10.
—30—
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am True Blue.” Learn more at www.mtsu.edu/trueblue. For MTSU
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