Spotlight

February 2012

Patrick Ivison looks forward to walking across the stage to get his diploma at his upcoming high school graduation. He hasn't walked since he was 14 months old. That's when a driver backing up ran over him, leaving him with a spinal cord injury that rendered him a quadriplegic.

Patrick grew up in Scripps Ranch, attending Miramar Ranch Elementary School, Marshall Middle School--"Both of them," he smiles, "I was in the first graduating class at the new location."--and is now a senior at Scripps Ranch High School. Throughout his school years he needed someone to help him get around, but now he can function alone. He even drives himself to school.

The 17-year-old has always enjoyed sports and participated in rugby, soccer, and basketball programs for wheelchair athletes. At the beach he watched friends on their boogie boards and wished he could do that too. Hope surfaced when he was 8 and saw a movie about a surfer who was confined to a wheelchair, Jesse Billauer. Patrick looked at his mother and said. "You know I'm going to do this, right?" He contacted Billauer, who agreed to meet with him. After a month of working together, Patrick was surfing!

Then along came dog trainer Judy Fridono and her dog, Ricochet. Like Patrick, Ricochet had problems. Trained as a guide dog, she couldn't make it due to her penchant for chasing birds. Judy decided to train her to do what she could do. Like a true San Diegan, Ricochet took to the water. One day while riding on Judy's surfboard next to Patrick's, the dog jumped onto Patrick's board. Judy thought it might be a one-time thing, but Ricochet did it again...and again. On the fourth outing, four news organizations were there to cover the surfing duo!

The two turned their personal setbacks into "can-do" achievements. Fifteen hundred people watched and applauded them at the first Surf City Surf Dog event in 2009 in Huntington Beach.

"I ride on my stomach and Ricochet stands behind me and despite having to straddle me, she does a great job balancing and counterbalancing the board," says Patrick. "I've learned to trust her, and we surf well as a team." In 2011 Ricochet was named the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) dog of the year.

Patrick is now a competitive surfer and has appeared on many television programs and been interviewed by publications in this country and abroad. He's been on the Today show twice, on E News, and Oprah Winfrey's new program, talking about his surfing prowess and his canine surfing pal.

In true Scripps Ranch fashion Patrick volunteers his time, particularly in fundraising. At Children's Hospital he talks to children faced with physical problems and is proud to have raised more than $10,000 for the hospital through his website. His determination and optimism have made him an inspiration for others. He doesn't see himself that way. "I'm inspired by other people."

When he was 9, he spoke to the San Diego City Council asking that they not cancel a sports program in which he participated. Since then his services as a spokesperson have been called into service many times. In March of last year he and his mother went to Washington, D.C., where Patrick addressed the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration about the need for better rear-visibility standards for all vehicles.

He is grateful to Project Walk, which he joined in 2005, for his progress. He still goes to therapy three times a week. When they first got him on his feet, he was surprised to see how tall he was. It looked like a long way to the floor!

He, his mom, Jennifer, and his sister, 15-year-old Samantha, founded Help Patrick Walk, a fundraising project to help pay for the $90,000 rehabilitation program. The "giant yard sales" they've held, covering Patrick's yard as well as the neighbors', are legendary. A bowling tournament and annual poker tournament have raised money and provide fun. "And great prizes!" says Patrick.

"I have incredible friends," Patrick says. School friends, surfing friends, people on the beach who ask if they can help with anything. And, of course, a very supportive family. "I couldn't do all this without a lot of help."

He is in a work/study program at school, interning with Golden Boy Mobility in Poway, the agency that adapted his van. "I love it!" he proclaims. A new van is in the works for him, with Patrick designing the special features he needs to operate it.

Patrick plans a career in the film industry and has applied to USC in L.A. and Chapman University in Orange County. He has done some short projects and made a promotional film for sports in high school. He finds motivational speaking gratifying. So far it has been pro bono, but he hopes he can parlay it into a way to offset his expenses.

Right now he's preparing for that big day when he walks across the stage to get his diploma. "Just 133 days!" Patrick announced on the day we spoke.