My Experience Living with a Spinal Cord Injury: Kelly-Blake and Van Linden - Episode 22

In the words of guest Mark Van Linden, “adversity can present itself to anybody at any time.” This episode features a personal narrative of life with a spinal cord injury. Dr. Karen Kelly-Blake, Associate Professor in the Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences and the Department of Medicine at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, is joined by Mark Van Linden, MSA, and president of Adversity Solutions LLC. Mr. Van Linden experienced a spinal cord injury in 2009. In conversation with Dr. Kelly-Blake, Mr. Van Linden candidly shares his story, discussing his life before and after his injury, and addressing not just the physical impact, but the mental, emotional, and relational impact of becoming paralyzed at age 39.

This episode was produced and edited by Liz McDaniel in the Center for Ethics. Music: "While We Walk (2004)" by Antony Raijekov via Free Music Archive, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. A full episode transcript is available at bioethics.msu.edu.