This year the Spina Bifida Association of Central Florida’s Walk-n-Roll event was hosted at Waterworks Park, in Tampa. This marked the first year the Walk-n-Roll event was introduced to the Tampa Bay area. The event is usually held in Orlando. This event is for people, and their families, who suffer from Spina Bifida. There were vendors from different companies to help benefit the Spina Bifida Association with products and family-friendly activities.

  A performer at the event was Justin Beauchesne. He doesn’t have Spina Bifida, but does have a rare form of Meningococcemia, a disease that causes blood clots. This disease resulted in the amputation of both his arms and right foot. Beauchesne is a skateboarder affiliated with Adaptive Action Sports.

  During the event, Beauchesne entertained the audience by performing some of his skateboard tricks. He says he started skating because, “I loved the fact that I could be me and no one had to judge me, it was a very relaxing thing for me. If there was a bad day, that [skateboarding] was my way of getting away. Once I started getting better and I found out I could motivate people, that’s what really kept me going.”

  Beauchesne contributes to awareness of Spina Bifida by going around to health clinics and performing demonstrations, where he also speaks to people with disabilities.

  For Beauchesne, helping people with disabilities is important to him, and adds, “anyway that I can give back and any sort of happiness I can bring somebody, no matter what disability, I’m going to be there.”

  The Executive Director of the Spina Bifida Association of Central Florida is Karen Allen. She said, “This is our first walk for Tampa, our inaugural walk, but we’ve had four walks in Orlando in four years so we’ve done these walks for four years now.” During the Tampa event, they were able to raise over $30,000, and they had 160 people register for the cause. The money raised goes to the association and does not leave Central Florida. They had over 20 vendors in Tampa and each vendor had games to play. There are 400 families involved in the Central Florida chapter that participate in these events each year.

  Two long-time volunteers, are husband and wife, Tammy and Ed Seaman. They have helped with the association in Tampa since 2005. Tammy said, “We moved here from New York, so we showed up here [in Tampa] at a meeting and there were three people sitting there and that was it. We had to grow from three people; I mean we have sat in rooms where no one was there.” She new they needed to grow. According to Tammy, they used Facebook to spread the word about their events. About a year ago, they partnered with the Orlando chapter and came up with the idea to have a Walk-n-Roll in Tampa.

  To learn more about Spina Bifida or to get involved with the Spina Bifida Association’s multiple events, visit www.sbacentralflorida.org.