Dan Cummings, Founder and President of Journey Forward, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to bettering the lives of those who have suffered a Spinal Cord Injury through an intense exercise program. He started this non-profit in 2008 after years of recovering from his own spinal cord injury. On June 24, 2000, while hanging out with friends at a nearby lake, he decided to dive off the boat – a decision that almost cost him his life. Dan opened his eyes underwater but he was unable to move. Two of his friends pulled him ashore and he was airlifted to Boston Medical Center, where he was diagnosed a C6 quadriplegic and spent the next four weeks in the ICU fighting for his life. As he started to recover, Dan made a promise to himself that he would walk again. He proceeded on a long journey, which landed him in facility in Southern California that worked specifically with spinal cord injuries for up to three hours per day. When he was ready to move back to Boston, he walked out the doors of the facility under his own power with a new mission of making the intense program available to those who need it. As Founder of Journey Forward in Canton, Massachusetts, Dan works to help others, with the dream of opening Journey Forward facilities across the country so no one has to move away from their families to find the best possible care. Dan lives in Hyde Park, Massachusetts.
