A paralyzed veteran and his wife have met their fundraising goal and opened a non-profit recovery center for spinal-cord injured patients to recover.
Stay In Step, founded by Romy Camargo and wife, Gaby Camargo, offers treatment, rehabilitation and support services to veterans and civilians in Tampa, Fla., according to a press release.
Romy Camargo was paralyzed by a sniper bullet in 2008, during his third tour of duty in Afghanistan. He spent 18 months in intensive inpatient care and then traveled to Orlando twice a week for treatment. Camargo decided to help other paraplegics and quadriplegics by offering them a recovery center in Tampa, which is home to the James A. Haley VA Medical Center, the busiest polytrauma unit in the U.S., according to the release.
“With everyone’s support, we have built up a center that is going to impact so many lives,” Camargo said in the release. “Gaby said that we could do this — that we could open up this center in Tampa. And now it is a reality.”
“Stay In Step is dedicated to providing cutting-edge physical rehabilitation services and including the much-needed tools to win the mental game,” Gaby Camargo said in the release. “We want to create an environment for patients to support one another, share stories and give encouragement, and offer some relief from the intense daily schedule. Stay In Step provides a place of comfort, relaxation and shares a sense of family.”
The final $300,000 for the $750,000 facility was donated by Toyota. At the grand opening of the facility, Simon Nagata, Toyota Motor North America’s executive vice president and chief administrative officer, also presented Stay In Step with a wheelchair-accessible 2015 Toyota Sienna minivan.
“Supporting Stay In Step is aligned with Toyota’s corporate vision to lead the way to the future of mobility and enrich lives around the world with the safest and most responsible ways of moving people,” Nagata said. “Toyota is proud to support Stay In Step and the tremendous work of Romy and Gaby.”
References: www.stayinstep.org, www.toyota.com.
