Project Walk®- Spinal Cord Injury Recovery

John is a New England native who attended school at Plymouth State University while studying Exercise Science in there Physical Education program. After school John moved to San Diego to pursue a career in the field of exercise and found Project Walk.

John started his career at Project Walk in February of 2004 and he quickly moved up in the company holding jobs as the Media Productions Assistant, Lead Specialist, and Assistant Facility Manager before moving to Boston to become the Program Director. Being the Program Director, John not only works with clients for six hours a day, but also manages a team of specialists, works on client and specialists daily schedule, updates and monitors clients progress, trains new staff, and oversees daily floor operations.

John has been a guest speaker for college classes and also attends annual SCI conferences to promote and educate others on the benefits of our program. Being the new Program Director of the Boston Center, John is very excited to be bringing back the concept of Project Walk’s exercise-based recovery program and hopes to make a difference in the spinal cord injury communities of the northeast.

Dan Cummings, Business Manager

Dan was born in Boston, MA and is the youngest of seven. At the age of nineteen Dan know he had a passion for acting, but still not sure if that was his destiny he decided to attend Massachusetts Bay Community College to earn some college credits as he figured out exactly what he wanted to do with his life. After finishing his first semester of college, Dan was enjoying his summer; however, just days into that summer, June 24th 2000 to be exact, he experienced the moment that would change his life forever. Dan dove off of a boat and landed in shallow water. The impact broke Dan’s neck at the C-6 vertebrae.

Dan was in for the fight of his life; he was down, but he was not out. Dan knew there would be many obstacles to recovery and that began with the doctors giving him no chance to ever walk again. “Walk again??? He’ll be lucky if he ever feeds himself again,” was what one nurse said. However, Dan made a promise to himself that he was going to prove everybody wrong and one day walk again. “I knew that I was up for the fight of my life, but I was ready. I didn’t care what it was going to take, I was going to do it,” said Dan.

The initial rehabilitation included “traditional” physical and occupational therapy. After 3 years of "traditional" therapy Dan knew that he needed more. He then heard about a place in California that worked with spinal cord injuries for 3 hours per day named Project Walk. After visiting, Dan knew that Project Walk was the place that he needed to be. So, he went back to Boston and forced himself into independency for the next 11 months before moving out to California to join Project Walk. Dan joined Project Walk on August 4th, 2003 and spent nearly four years there before walking out of their doors and moving back to Boston, to open a Project Walk in Boston.

Apprentice

Lisa Mikula, Apprentice

Lisa attended Bridgewater State College and received a B.S. in Physical Education with a concentration in Exercise Science. She has been a personal trainer for the last few years as well as a call firefighter. She plans on returning to Bridgewater for her M.S. in Strength and Conditioning. She is looking forward to learning more about SCI as well as getting her Level 1 certification.

In her free time Lisa enjoys playing soccer, tennis, and being outdoors.

Mike Rollins, Apprentice

Mike started his career as a personal trainer, then pursued Graduate School where he started working as a Strength and Conditioning Coach. He continued coaching for 3 years before coming to Project Walk. Mike has worked several professional camps with various sports and skill levels. He also attained a Master’s in Business Administration in which he hopes to put to good use in the future within our company. Mike wanted to come to Project Walk because he believes: “A gift is no good to an individual, unless you share it with the world.” Mike received his B.S. in Exercise Science from Ball State University and an MBA from Providence College.