SCI Superstar: Rob Wudlick

Rob Wudlick has been a fighter since his spinal cord injury for both himself and others. A fierce SCI research advocate, Rob is a founding member and Chairman of the Board for a nonprofit dedicated to curing spinal cord injuries, Get Up Stand Up (GUSU). Read on for a snapshot into the life of an unexpected advocate.

Why He’s Fearless

After graduating from Montana State University, Bozeman, Rob went on a month-long river rafting trip with friends in April 2011 down the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon, which was one of his favorite pastimes, but during the trip Rob dove into the river to retrieve a piece of trash one of his friends dropped, and broke his C4-5 vertebrae.

Rob was airlifted to Las Vegas and did his initial rehab at Craig hospital in Colorado. After rehab, Rob moved back home to Minnesota where he was able to start his participation in the ABLE Program, a program funded by the Christopher Reeve Foundation where he was able to do a variety of activity-based rehabilitation from gait training to upper extremity FES. Gait training aims to create new nerve pathways, a rewiring if you will, in the spinal cord.

After doing this rehab, he saw some exciting results. From making strides in keeping his trunk upright while in the harness system tp being able to cut back on certain medications, Rob experienced several improvements since taking part in ABLE.

Rob also became involved in advocating for monetary funding for spinal cord injury research in the political field. He joined forces with Matthew Roderick, father a C5-6 quad, to found Get Up Stand Up (GUSU), a nonprofit dedicated to finding a functional cure for spinal cord injury. He’s their Treasurer and Chairman of the Board, and they’ve been able to secure funds for spinal cord money through bills they’ve advocated for.

What’s Next?

Rob has also been busy advocating in other ways. He’s traveled to Washington, DC on behalf of United Spinal’s annual “Roll on Capitol Hill” conference to advocate for issues such as complex rehabilitation technology  and accessibly rights. Rob also speaks on the latest in research at the annual Working2Walk Conference by U2FP (United2Fight Paralysis).

And 2021, Rob, who has a degree in industrial engineering, helped co-invent an upper-arm exoskeleton, Abilitech, one of the first of it’s kind in the world. 

— Visit GUSU