My Nonprofit Reviews

"When you're an active mountain sports athlete and you experience a life-changing injury, it's not that hard to get left in the dust and question where you fit in. What impacted me the most becoming a High Fives athlete is the sense of family and belonging. We relate to each other's lives, and are brought together by our shared experiences and our hunger to return to the lives we loved so much...

Not only do the wonderful people at the High Fives Foundation bring us together in our common goals and dreams, but they also help us secure funding for therapies and equipment that keep our fires lit and our recoveries onward and upward, sometimes delivering us from very dire circumstances. Through their tireless efforts and infectious positivity they have transformed the lives of so many of us and will continue to as they grow and become capable of helping more and more mountain sport athletes in need.

They have most recently created the possibility for me to incorporate custom seating in my sit ski setup for the winter this year. Beyond stoked to be able to spend more time in the ski and have greater control as we take on steeper terrain and higher speeds. All the help I have received from the High Fives Foundation has helped me reach this point and leaves me very inspired to further invest in my progression and put a big fat cheese eating grin on my face. Long live High Fives!"

The HIgh Fives Foundation is unique in that it focuses on injured mountain athletes. Athletes searching for ways to advance their recovery from traumatic injury, and perhaps even return to competition, usually face significant obstacles of access and funding to pursue therapies and return to athletic activities. Since becoming a C4 incomplete quadriplegic 4 years ago; spending the first two of those battling pressure wounds, infections and pneumonias, I'm now about two years deep slowly building strength and new motor function. I'm finally at the point where I can really push myself physically and my recovery continues to gain momentum and renew innervation to body parts that were paralyzed until recently. The High Fives Foundation has helped me boost my recovery by creating access to the best technology available for me to rebuild and regain my upper body. Access is the most important factor in my ability to recover the use of my body, and I am so very thankful high fives has helped create such access. I'm also humbled and excited to be included in a group of like-minded athletes with such positive and gold directed outlooks on life. As a father and an athlete with a hunger for the hills, I'm very much looking forward to spending more time with my family, good friends, and hopefully fellow High Fives athletes in the mountains!
-Adam Lavender