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Spinal cord injuries can happen to anyone at any time and that was certainly the case for Alex Rossius, who was injured in a three-story fall the summer before her senior year of high school. Forging a new life with a C3-4 injury, not only did she return to high school and graduate, she went on to rewrite her college plans to help people with spinal cord injuries. Read her story in our ongoing series for National Disability Employment Awareness Month below.
Injured Before H.S. Senior Year
Growing up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Rossius was on-track to become an airline pilot. “I had an interest in engineering and was aiming for a bachelor’s in aviation,” she says. And after finishing her junior year, she began to apply for small part-time jobs around her hometown. “I was eager to gain working experience and step out of my comfort zone as I got closer to graduation.”
But like so many spinal cord injuries before hers, Rossius’ plans were derailed on the fateful day of her injury. Just a few weeks after her junior year, she fell nearly 40 feet from three-stories and sustained a C3-4 injury, becoming paralyzed from the shoulders down.
But she did not let that stop her. Within months, Rossius was back at high school. “I was incredibly proud to have pushed through my senior year and graduate from LHS in May of 2024 alongside my peers,” she says. And thanks to her mother, she was signed on for epidural stimulation treatments to improve upper-body function. After graduating from high school, Rossius’ life changed immensely once she underwent epidural stimulation.
Finding a Passion for Science
“Later that summer, I flew to Guadalajara, Mexico, to undergo surgery for two epidural stimulator implants,” she says. “I was in intensive therapy for 50 days after the procedure before returning home to continue my rehabilitation on my own.” While undergoing the treatment, Rossius became inspired not only about the treatment for herself but for what it can do for others with paralysis.
“After gaining this first-hand experience utilizing epidural stimulation in the treatment of my own SCI, I decided to redirect my focus towards biomedical engineering. Being a witness to the power and potential of biotechnology in current and future SCI treatments, this area of interest quickly became my new calling. My injury has now given me a new purpose and direction in life, one I had not foreseen coming.”
When she returned home, Rossius was lost as to how to move forward towards building her career. Fortunately, she connected with SPINALpedia. “With the help of my mentors from SPINALpedia, I had the support I needed to continue my higher education at my local community college. As a C4 quad, entering the world of colleges and future employment was incredibly intimidating, but my mentors made sure to provide me with all the resources and knowledge I needed to undergo the admissions process.”
She also uses adaptive technology for her studies, mainly using GlassOuse, a headset controlled by a bite switch. “This allows me to connect to any device and control it much like a regular computer mouse. Voice Control also comes in handy when my headset is unavailable.”
Envisioning her future career, Rossius wants to make a direct impact on those in the spinal cord injury community in the field of biotechnology engineering. “A big part of this condition is the aspect of uncertainty,” says Rossius. “There is never a clear answer for expected recovery, compared to other medical conditions, as each injury is unique to the individual. As we are all too familiar with, the spinal cord is still quite a mystery to us. I hope to be a part of that changing one day.”
ideas@spinalpedia.com
