What is the hardest part of spinal cord injury rehabilitation for most people? - Donald Peck Leslie, MD

I think the hardest thing for a patient and a family member of rehabilitation is just how hard it is. It’s the hardest thing they’ve ever been through. They have been through marriages, and divorces, and debts and all kinds of terrible crises in their life, but this is a showstopper. This changes their life indelibly, typically forever. So, in the days, and weeks and months that they spend in rehabilitation—rehabilitation never ends, there’s not an end point. But once they get through the crux, they get through the 101 of rehab, of rehabilitation, they feel how difficult it is. It is the hardest job that they have ever had. And the intelligent person, who understands what they are up against, usually does extremely well. I’ve seen people turn around totally, they’re not the person that they were. They really get serious about their life; they’ve been given another life. They have been given another chance and often times they take it and do very well.