Roy Tuscany on Help, Healing, and High Fives

Roy Tuscany is the Founder and CEO of the High Fives Foundation. On April 26, 2016 Roy overshot a ski jump and was paralyzed with a spinal cord injury.  Six years later, and a year and a half after I was paralyzed, Roy and I connected for the first time. I had read an article about High Fives in Powder, a ski magazine and was jolted by the energetic vibe of the organization - it felt like something different. One of my closest friends also met Roy at an industry event. He immediately  called me up and said you need to talk to this guy. In our first conversation, Roy told me about Tony Schmeising, a man who has been living as a quadriplegic for 40 years, and his expedition to Alaska to go Heli skiing. Roy then said, "you're next". I laughed nervously and said OK, while thinking to myself that it was a ridiculous suggestion. How was I going to do that with my recently acquired disability? Fast forward 12 years and High Fives has awarded me with grants for adaptive sports equipment, covered adaptive surf competition fees, and supported some of my earliest adaptive ski lessons with Vermont Adaptive. High Fives has also grown tremendously in that time and is now a leading organization in the catastrophic injury and disability community. At least half of our previous guests have received support from High Fives and and of course High Fives is the presenting sponsor of The Unexpected Journey. In this conversation, we skip over Roy's story of his ski accident that resulted in a spinal cord injury, paralysis, and the founding of High Fives. A quick Google search will produce dozens of podcasts and articles on both of those topics. Instead, Roy and I explore healing, leadership, parenting, taking ownership of one’s life, and trauma, including sexual abuse.

If you or someone you know has experience sexual abuse or you suspect they are, please know that you are not alone and that safe confidential support from a professional is immediately available at the national sexual assault telephone hotline [phone]–HOPE or 4673. You can also find resources on the website for the national sexual violence resource Center, www.nsvrc.org

Guest info:

• @roytuscany
• @hi5sfoundation

Additional Resources:

• National Sexual Assault Hotline - 800-656-4673 - www.rainn.org  
• National Sexual Violence Resource Center - www.nsvrc.org
• www.highfivesfoundation.org

Contact us: 

• Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypod
• Email: [e-mail] 
• Hosted and produced by Tim Brown
• Editing and sound design by Louis Arevalo
• Original theme music by Jesse LaFountaine
• Episode cover art by Lewis Falconer 
• Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer