Photo courtesy of Aaron Baker.
When hit with a life-changing adversity, Aaron Baker found a purpose in adventure and empowering others to live the “highest version of themselves.”
It all started when Baker first fell in love with motocross racing at three years old. When he was 17, he finally went pro in the sport.
But after competing professionally for three years, he suffered a career-ending injury during a practice run. A bike malfunction left him a quadriplegic, paralyzing all four of his limbs. Doctors told him his chances at a quality life were extremely slim; they gave him a “one-in-a-million chance” of feeding himself again.
When asked about the odds, Baker told Slice of Culture that he likes to keep it comical and lighthearted. He referred to Jim Carrey’s line from the 1994 film “Dumb And Dumber,” “So you’re telling me there’s a chance?”
Today, 25 years after his accident, he can stand and walk.
Baker is a recovering quadriplegic endurance athlete, activist, entrepreneur, philanthropist and father. He is currently embarking on a multi-continent road trip, “Adversity Into Adventure,” to raise awareness, advocacy and $25,000,000 for research initiatives for “Diverse-Abled” individuals like himself.
“[Just] be willing to keep moving forward, to look at life as a beautiful gift. The ebbs and flows of everyone’s journey [are] opportunities for you to learn, to evolve, to become a better human, to help each other and serve others. We need to remember our humanity and that we’re stronger than we think, and that when we help others, we help ourselves. And that’s why I like to say we rise by lifting others,” he told Slice of Culture.
Baker is currently touring the Texas area, and will likely reach New Jersey around October or November. The “pedaling for a purpose” will cover six out of seven continents by 2026.
The Accident / Road To Recovery
Baker was a young, ambitious athlete, he said. He was chasing his dream to be “a champion on a motorcycle” in the sport that taught him so much about life, discipline, change and competition.
On May 29, 1999, the Central California native was practicing in Simi Valley, training for the upcoming AMA National Motocross Series. As Baker hit the largest jump of the track, his bike had a mechanical failure, forcing him over the handlebars and hitting the ground first, “instantaneously” snapping his neck, paralyzing him from the chin down.
And while this incident happened in a matter of seconds, he said it wasn’t as quick.
“I remember the moment vividly. I remember flying through the air almost in slow motion,” he added.
“It was a familiar experience. I had crashed many times before, as most athletes do in their practice in racing. I remember thinking clearly enough to try to land in such a way so I wouldn’t break my legs because I was so high in the air—the last thing that had occurred to me was landing on my head and breaking my neck. I recall that moment clearly. I remember the sound my neck made as it snapped, and I remember laying there on the ground clinging to life.”
Baker couldn’t move. His friends and people nearby rushed to help him as paramedics were called, eventually airlifting him to Los Robles Regional Hospital in Thousand Oaks. There, doctors revealed that he broke several vertebrae, totally smashing the 5th cervical vertebra in his spine.
And though the doctors told Baker that many things were now impossible, he couldn’t accept that.
From 2000 to 2006, Baker went through “very focused” rehabilitation, which solely consisted of eating, sleeping and “dreaming about rehab.”
He would wake up at 6 a.m. His mother would bathe and dress him. She would then feed him, put him in the car, get him in the wheelchair and take him to rehabilitation, where he would spend between six to eight hours a day for five to six days a week.
“My life revolved around the education of human movement [and] biomechanics. I was involved in a teaching-learning lab at a university in Southern California where I was literally a guinea pig for the students in their kinesiology classes. I got to really learn vicariously through their studies of how to reconnect my mind to my muscles, my brain, to my body and to move intentionally,” he said.
“I became a student of my body and I learned to intentionally willfully move. And that’s what I still do to this day.”
And it paid off.
Between 2003 and 2006, Baker completed the LA Marathon. In 2007 and 2008, he raced in the Rise Above Tour Cross Country Ride. From 2009 to 2012, he even competed in Paralympic Trike Racing.
Pedaling For A Purpose
Baker lives his life with a purpose. He explains that his purpose is, “serving others, giving back and paying forward” all the support he’s received by offering opportunities for others to improve their quality of life.
Baker has accomplished this in different ways like serving on the board of Red Bull’s Wings For Life Foundation and Artists For Trauma and contributing as a Spinal Cord Injury Lifestyle Specialist for various organizations and The Huffington Post. He co-founded the Center of Restorative Exercise (CORE) with his mother in 2011, which he explained was a passion project that transformed their trauma into purpose.
“It was the evolution of the university system that I was involved in. We wanted to see an opportunity like that provided to the general public. And at that time, there weren’t very many facilities that bridge the gap between rehab and regular fitness. And that’s what that center did and does still to this day,” he said.
“We created something that we’re very proud of and that allows people to literally walk, roll, whatever through the doors and improve their life.”
Though Baker and his mother sold the business just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said it’s still serving the greater Los Angeles area, a place where he called home prior to him, his wife and three-year-old daughter going on their international road trip.
“[We’re] literally pedaling with a purpose. I’m pushing the pedals of a bicycle so that I live the words that I speak,” he added.
And as Baker wraps up his second month on the road, the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games will kick off their events on Wednesday, Aug. 28 and will run through Sunday, Sept. 8. The games will host more than 4,000 athletes from around the world who will compete in 549 medal events.
“[The] Paralympic Games, to me, is the epitome of human spirit and what we’re capable of, because all these individuals were all diversely abled,” Baker said. “Those individuals as high-performing humans are really showcasing the power of possibility no matter what their circumstances are. They are rising to the absolute apex of their potential. And to see that… to listen to them articulate their process of their experience in life is inspiring to me.”
“It’s a wonderful community. I hope that the world shines a bright light on the Paralympics 2024.”
“Diverse-abled” is a word that Baker chooses over “disabled” and “handicapped” because of their negative connotations.
As an athlete with a spinal cord injury, he explained that there’s a number of complications he has to consider before even getting on his bicycle. He needs to be aware of his food digestion, blood pressure, muscle atrophy and temperature regulation, to name a few.
He says Paralympic athletes, alongside himself, have become masters of overcoming adversity by managing time, energy and risk.
To learn more about Baker’s journey from a transparent and raw perspective, you can find his books “Rebellious Recovery” and “The Art of Climbing Out of the Ditch” and his mother’s book, “Rise Together” available on Amazon.
