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Collin’s Road to Recovery

Collin broke his C5 and C6 vertebrae and suffered a severe spinal cord injury while at the beach with his friends. He has very limited mobility in his arms and hands, and currently no feeling below the chest. Collin is currently working hard with the amazing staff at Craig Hospital to increase his mobility and independence. We’re asking our family, friends, and community to join us in fundraising with the nonprofit Help Hope Live to help with the rising expenses Collin will face during rehabilitation.

Updates (22)

September 1, 2025

Dear Friends,

We hope you are all enjoying a restful Labor Day Weekend! The warm air and ocean water have been AMAZING especially for Collin because with his SCI it is difficult to regulate body temperature and these days the weather is just perfect!

As summer winds down and Collin begins his second year of graduate school, working towards an MBA, we wanted to share with you some of the accessibility tools (aka “toys” as we call them) that have helped him integrate back to a sense of “normalcy” in the world…

The FreedomTrax

This was something a mom of Collin’s friend, Ben, arranged for us to borrow for Ben’s wedding weekend. Collin was one of Ben’s groomsmen and needed to navigate the woodchips and gravel of the ranches where the wedding took place. Collin tested it out on the sand at the beach, and it worked great! (see video) His manual chair pulled easily onto it and although it’s heavy with tank-link tracks, it rolled easily into our van and we were able to drive it to the venues and load Collin onto it. With this FreedomTrax, Collin was able to be “one of the guys” and access all the events of his friend's beautiful wedding. It was such a success for Collin that we have written a grant to buy one for him, and if that gets denied, we will be using HHL money to purchase the $7k FreedomTrax so that Collin can easily navigate the sand on the beach and get to the surf!

The Scout

This motorized scooter is a game changer. It is like an ebike motor or e-scooter that attaches to the manual chair. Most paraplegics (those who still have hand function) can buy and use an item like this quite easily. But, for quadriplegics, like Collin, who can’t navigate a throttle control because they can’t use their hands, it’s more of a challenge. We learned about the Scout that has handlebars that Collin can push down for gas and push up for brake last year and bought one using HHL money. (Thankfully, Collin has the necessary bicep and shoulder strength that we continue to pay for PT to keep strong!) With this Scout adaptation, Collin can wheel around faster and easier in his manual chair. This has opened up more ability to attend social gatherings, bike rides, and just last month we took a trip to Boston. We walked everywhere and Collin was able to keep up driving his Scout over cobblestones, on the ferry, or just using the bike lanes with other ebikes. We’ve attached a video here of him crossing the Boston Marathon finish line. Most importantly, it gave Collin the ability to actively participate in his sister’s wedding. Before the wedding Collin was able to zip between the venue and Summer’s hotel room to help her get ready, gave a wonderful speech during the wedding, then tore it up on the dance floor!

The Surfboard

We finally got it! Thanks to a grant from Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) Collin was able to get his own surfboard that is customized to hold his elbows and legs in place. He is now what is called a “Prone Assist” surfer and gathers a team of friends to pull him out to the line-up and push him into the waves. We took his surfboard out for the first time yesterday in pretty big surf. As his mom, I was so scared of the surf conditions, but to see Collin’s huge smile as he was navigating the direction of his board, right and left, with his shoulders was AMAZING. At the end of the ride when he fell off, he would have to lay there face down in the surf, holding his breath until one of the team could get to him, flip him over, and then load him back on the board. But once a surfer, always a surfer and the lure of that next ride keeps him wanting to go back out.

So, that’s what Collin has been up to these last few months. We all appreciate your moral and financial support so very much. He never takes anything for granted and recognizes that there are many people who are supporting him. With that awareness, he continues to work extremely hard at PT, grad school, and just embracing life to the fullest. For helping us give Collin the support he needs to get back out there and be a productive member of our society, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Much love,

The Bosse Family

xoxo

June 9, 2025

Dear Friends,

We have some exciting news to share! Last week Collin was able to demo the Onward Arc EX E-stim machine at his PT gym, Adapt. Basically, the electrodes are put above his injury site in his neck and send signals below his injury site. He had an immediate response and was able to improve his balance and muscle coordination. Apparently, only 30% of all patients show immediate response like that. The videos posted here may seem like very subtle differences to the common viewer. However, we are very excited about what we saw and are hopeful for future uses.

His PT gym, Adapt, is currently fundraising to raise the $40k needed to buy an Onward Arc EX. And, of course, we as a family are continuing to fundraise to afford the $2k/month for Collin to go to Adapt. We are so thankful for the support we have received from all of you so far! And, if any of you know of family foundations or businesses that can’t give to GFM but can give to Adapt - they are a 501(c)3 which can accept those kinds of donations. Hopefully, we can get Collin on a regular schedule using an Onward Arc EX for possibilities like hand control as his neuroplasticity increases.

There have been some exciting advances published lately. For those of you interested - here are a few links to news about peptides and stem cells that are still a few years away from the common market but still filling us with hope. Until then, Collin continues to work hard in PT and in grad school and living as normal a life as possible. Again, we can’t thank you all enough for your support in this endeavor!

(I think you have to copy/paste all links into your browser... I can't figure out how to hyperlink them.)

1) Videos of Collin:

https://youtube.com/shorts/WIIiPj1SGLE?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/omJ3JS7CFu0?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/SdoWg3GefH8?feature=share

2) https://www.onwd.com/therapy/arc-ex/

3) https://nervgen.com/nervgen-pharma-reports-positive-topline-data-from-the-chronic-cohort-of-its-phase-1b-2a-clinical-trial-evaluating-nvg-291-in-spinal-cord-injury/

4) https://newatlas.com/chronic-pain/spinal-cord-injury-cell-therapy/

5) https://www.adaptmovement.org/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=wix_google_business_profile&utm_campaign=17172631834933492727

Much love,

The Bosse Family

xoxo

Photo Galleries (12)

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Guestbook

October 31, 2024

Yogurtland Goleta loves Collin!

Anonymous

April 16, 2024

Praying for you all.

Jen Holdren

February 6, 2024

Friend of the Hoyer Nielsen's, thinking about you and admiring your determination.

Nannette Erdtmann - de Groot