2009 Outdoors for All Gala Auction Speaker: Bud Feuerstein

Hi, I am Bud Feuerstein and have been involved with Outdoors for All for 7 years. I would like to take a moment to thank the Outdoors for All Foundation for honoring me to be able to talk with you tonight about my experience with this wonderful organization. The support from all of the staff, from all my instructors to the support staff and everyone in between is amazing. I also want to thank my strongest supporter my wife, Sharri Feuerstein without all her help and support there would not be a story to tell.
I started skiing when I was 8 years old with ISS Ski School at Snoqualmie Pass and got immediately hooked for life. Then years later I became the head chaperone with the ISS Ski School. I did this for 9 years as a volunteer.
After I became paralyzed, I spent the next 3 months at Evergreen Hospital and had 2 major surgeries, 1 which almost killed me. Virtually no one knew what this disease is or how you get it or how to cure it. Then the doctors told me I would never walk again. This made me very angry and made me determined to walk to prove them wrong.
It was 2.5 years before I took my first step with no safety nets. I received 4.5 years of very painful physical therapy to get to where I am now Im left with partial paralysis and extreme pain 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. After my 3 months in the hospital it was much harder to adjust to life on the outside world then I imagined, even the simplest task became a challenge. I told one of the nurses I was addicted to skiing and was afraid I would never ski again, then she told me about Outdoors for All and how it helps people in my type of condition to be able to participate in skiing and other activities.
I called Outdoors for All and set up a private lesson. Long before I could walk I was skiing again. It was the best feeling in the worldand the first time I had smiled from the inside out in many months.
The times up skiing with all of my instructors I can truly say have been the best times of my life. Being involved with Outdoors for All also means that I get to see all the smiles out on the faces of the other participants. This program gives disabled people a chance to leave all the day to day challenges behind and just have fun.
If I could pick an organization to support it would be Outdoors for All. The volunteers and staff all work so hard for such a selfless goal. They have truly changed my life so much for the better. Its hard to describe in the time given the feeling I get the night before skiing with Outdoors for All. Its almost like being a kid again and its the night before Christmas. Thanks to all these people I can say I have skied consecutively for 40 years and without them this would not have been possible.
So in closing, you could not find a better foundation that truly is in need of your help so please open your check books wide and raise your bidder number high so that you can make as many smiles happen as possible. Thank you for this opportunity to share my ongoing story about myself and Outdoors for All. Hope to see you on the slopes.