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Man paralyzed in tragic accident changes lives through his gym: “They have a purpose”
A tragic accident changed Mark Raymond Jr.’s life eight years ago, but it hasn’t stopped him from helping and inspiring others just like him.
Raymond described it as a normal day during the Fourth of July weekend in 2016.
“What was different was mom was not there to scream, ‘Mark, don’t dive off the boat,'” he said.
Raymond hit his head on the sandy bottom of Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana. After the terrifying moment, he said he couldn’t move.
Raymond’s best friend rescued him. He woke up a few weeks later from a medically induced coma after fracturing the fifth vertebrae in his neck, which left him paralyzed and no longer able to walk or fully use his hands.
Raymond could only imagine what his future now held.
“Am I still going to find love? Am I still going to, you know, have friends,” he wondered.
After the accident, Raymond went from being a social butterfly and an outdoorsmen to a loner, saying he suffered from suicidal thoughts and depression for a time.
Road to recovery
While scrolling through Instagram one day, Raymond found a rehabilitation facility in California.
“Seeing a room of empty wheelchairs and people doing things that doctors told me I couldn’t do, that effort to challenge the norm, to go the extra mile was really, I think what hooked me,” he said.
Raymond spent three months at the facility. After just the first month, he said he knew he needed to bring a similar program to the New Orleans area.
Inspiring and changing lives
Today, the 35-year-old’s workouts focus on making adjustments for seated equipment.
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Two years after his accident, Raymond started the Split Second Foundation. In 2021, he opened his gym in New Orleans. It was a decision he made not only for himself, but for others with different needs.
His hero, the friend who pulled him out of the water, suggested the name of the gym, because Raymond’s life changed in a split second.
Raymond said he has a range of clients.
“We’ve got strokes. We’ve got spinal cord injuries. We’ve got cerebral palsy.”
Next year, the gym will move into a building with five times more space. Raymond said he wants to push his clients to get better in a supportive environment.
“We want them to gain, but most importantly, we want them to feel like they belong, like they have a purpose, like they have a home.”
As for goals of his own, he would like to get back on a boat again soon.
“This is Louisiana. Louisiana’s ‘Sportsman’s Paradise,'” he said. “I want a boat I could roll this chair on and still roll around the boat a little bit and have a good time.”
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.