Table 2.

Four themes reflected in example quotes from participants’ life story interviews.

Theme	Camila’s quotes	Malcolm’s quotes
Theme 1: adjustment to life with SCI	“When I started seeing other patients laughing, making jokes and riding their chairs, that started giving me a different outlook on life.”	“My buddy had less movement than I have and I’d watch him get on the bus. I just watched him do it and I’m like ‘Wow. I can’t believe this.’ So I said, ‘I’m gonna try to get on the bus.”’
Theme 2: hardiness	“My health had to come first…but something within me said ‘Okay, I’ve gone through way too much; through all these loans, my mom’s sacrifice my sacrifice, my time, everything. I just can’t give up right now.’”	“Out of all my friends and my brother’s friends, I was the only one that graduated from college.”
Theme 3: interdependence	“I’m not afraid of asking for help…people normally want to do everything by themselves, but the reality is sometimes you do need help and you do need to ask for it.”	“I was a little nervous at first ‘cause I didn’t know like what to expect. But they helped me with open arms. they understood my situation…they looked at me and saw ‘Malcolm’.”
Theme 4: post-traumatic growth	“I believe that maybe it could be an inspiration to other people even though I don’t like to say that I’m an inspiration. I would rather have other people believe that I’m an example that things are possible despite the circumstances.”	“I think God put me in this wheelchair for a reason ‘cause the things that I was doing before my accident and the culture and environment that I was around…nobody can predict the future but I don’t know where I would be right now if I was on my feet.”