Jory Pradjinski

Born in 1961 and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin I entered this world unique. When I was born my feet were severely twisted to one side. This required my parents to put leg braces on me every night until my legs improved. To have a child born with a deformity in 1961 was very challenging. Even today there are stigmas, but they were more severe when I was born. Fortunately, the braces worked and corrected the problem.

From there I had a reasonable childhood growing up in a blue-collar family. I was taught to work hard and always do the best possible job. The lessons learned guided my path to always work harder than needed. This became a startling reality when I injured my back, the disc between my L5 vertebra and my sacrum (S1), in 1987 at work. I turned my work ethic to healing my back. However, I endured a total of five back surgeries due to three failed fusions. This left me with nerve and muscle damage due to the scar tissue. However, life needed to continue.

In 2006, while I was stopped, I was rear-ended by an inattentive driver of a pickup truck traveling about 50 mph (approximately 80 kph). This left me with a brain injury, bruised skull, and neck problems. In time I looked at this as a gift because I could relate to people with these health conditions besides low back pain. Life is all about how we look at it.

Today, after many other life challenges, I am reaching out to help others through my non-profit Hope Instilled and our unique support group Hope Against Pain. I was fortunate to survive the surgeries, severe vehicle accident, suicidal thoughts and much more. I see all that I have endured as gifts so I may help others. Through years of challenges, and deep frustrations, I finally found my "new normal" as I improved the quality of my life.

Through my years, chronic pain became a monster that tried to end my life repeatedly. However, I was completely unaccepting (as one doctor said about me, and not in a positive way). You can read more in my chapter of the 2019 Natural & Organic Healing: Your Ultimate Guide to Wellness book. Also, visit our website www.HopeInstilled.org.

Yours in hope,

Jory Pradjinski