NextStep Launches “Move for Others” at Pasadena Triathlon to support people with disabilities.

PRLog (Press Release) - Mar. 21, 2013 - LAWNDALE, Calif. -- PASADENA, CA (March 21, 2013) – While hundreds of athletes will be competing in the Pasadena Triathlon later this month to achieve personal bests, a select group of individuals will be racing for something more – a purpose.

Team NextStep – highlighted by five disabled individuals each with stories of hope, courage and determination – will be racing alongside their fellow competitors at the Pasadena Triathlon on Saturday, March 23, as part of the Los Angeles-based not-for-profit’s Move for Others campaign, aimed at raising funds and awareness for those living with paralysis and mobility impairments.

“Move for Others is a universal movement designed to get us all healthier and create solutions to help overcome paralysis and mobility impairments,” said Janne Kouri, president and founder of NextStep.

Move for Others is NextStep’s newest program, designed to raise awareness for the organization’s mission: Provide the opportunity for life-long health and recovery for people living with paralysis and mobility impairments, in communities nationwide.

Whether running a marathon, walking a 5K, testing your limits in a triathlon, or hiking a mountain the Move for Others campaign at this month’s Pasadena Triathlon is the organization’s next step in revolutionizing the quality of ongoing healthcare for this drastically underserved population.

Five of the organization’s members – April Michelle Brown, Dr. Lawrence Fong, Walter Bouchard, Melissa Allensworth and Patrick Ivison – will be competing for Team NextStep at the event.

“It’s a great facility, and the people there really care about you,” said Fong, a former triathlete and longtime member of LA Tri Club who will return to racing at the Pasadena event. “The support has been really great. [NextStep Fitness] has been really encouraging to me not just for this race, but in life, as well.”

Brown, a Lawndale, CA, native who became a quadruple amputee in 2011, says the triathlon helps prove that “anything can be accomplished” and hopes this event and the Move for Others campaign encourages others to learn how they can help the community of paralyzed individuals and those living with mobility impairments.

“That’s what this triathlon is doing – helping me be the best I can be,” said Brown, who has appeared in national media, including The Katie Couric Show, to talk about her ordeal. “That is the accomplishment, to say ‘I will’ and “I can’. NextStep has helped me be committed.”

For more information about NextStep and its Move for Others campaign, please visit http://www.nextstepfitness.org. For more information about the Pasadena Triathlon, please visit http://www.pasadenatriathlon.com.

About NextStep

NextStep, a nationally recognized 501 c(3) organization, believes that all persons living with paralysis and other physical disabilities deserve the hope and opportunity to live long and healthy lives. Yet today most of these individuals are deprived of the resources they desperately need for survival because there are no options available to them or they cannot afford them. NextStep, http://www.nextstepfitness.org, provides the opportunity for health and recovery through affordable and progressive community fitness, health, and wellness facilities.

NextStep is a nationwide movement that aims to revolutionize the quality of healthcare for the physically challenged community. NextStep has paved the way with the first community facility in the U.S. to offer Locomotor and activity based training at its state of the art facility in Los Angeles and continues its vision to expand across the United States. The organization’s other initiatives are participation in cutting edge research, education, and awareness programs that are focused on enhancing the lives of the 6 million people in the U.S. living with paralysis.

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