Jorge Macias

Before my injury, I had just graduated high school and was working in construction as an electrician. Things were looking good until one day when I decided that I was going to go to a party after work. To make a long story short 5 guys wanted to rob me, one thing led to another and I ended up getting shot 3 times: arm, leg, and back. I had 2 broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and of course, the bullet burned my spinal cord. I was 17 and a t-7 complete paraplegic.  The first year of my injury was very depressing and I did not know what I would do for the rest of my life. Luckily I had a very strong support system and my family was always there for me.

One day, my mindset changed, life goes on and I had to keep pushing. I was not going to let this injury stop me. 

Jorge, right, greets participants during a weekly “Fitness for All” class at the Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program in Berkeley.

This is where things started to look up for me. I decided to go to Junior College and study Kinesiology and major in Recreational Therapy. I started going out more and meeting a lot more people. Around this time I got involved with BORP as a participant doing cycling and wheelchair basketball and fell in love with adaptive sports. I had to try them all. 2 years into JC I saw no end to school and luckily enough I got an opportunity to work for BORP and I took it. I also started rock climbing and realized this was my favorite sport. To the present day, I help manage a couple of the sports programs for BORP such as their wheelchair basketball program, rock climbing, and the fitness class "Fit for All".

Jorge representing Team USA

I have also had the great opportunity to represent Team USA in an international rock climbing competition in Switzerland. I only want to keep on improving and showing others that life is not over after an acquired disability.

In 2020, I was fortunate to receive an Easy Stand Glider, thanks to NorCal SCI’s Donated Medical Equipment Program.

Read more about BORP, Jorge and his community HERE and his classes HERE

And you can contact Jorge HERE