It started as a beautiful day in March 1996 on a California beach, surfer Jesse Billauer, days away from turning pro, caught a glorious wave that in turn hit him hard. The wave, in perfect form, picked up this energetic surfer and let him ride, until the wave tired of him, then as quickly as the wave picked him up, it deposited him onto the ocean bottom where a rogue sandbar was waiting. That day, 17-year old Jesse fractured his C-6 vertebrae, a spinal cord injury that rendered him paralyzed.
But Jesse’s story does not end here as one might think that it would. Years later, Jesse returned to the sea, ‘Seeking’ he said, ‘for the exhilarating freedom I used to experience.’ With the help of his friends, one who built him a suitable board, Jesse began riding once again.
Skip forward to 2001, Jesse dove into another sea of unknown, he launched an initiative so that others living with a disability might know the same rapture that he felt. Life Rolls On is a non-profit organization formed for the sole reason to improve the quality of life for those living with various disabilities. Hosting umpteen events throughout the year, Jesse’s mission is reaching hundreds of people stricken with all sorts of neurological disorders. That, I say, is a powerful outreach!
The ‘power being in the perspective, not the circumstance’.
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Jesse says, “A wave is like a canvas, you can paint your description of how you’re feeling at that moment… Each time I get in the water, I feel cleansed of everything else going on. It’s beautiful, just beautiful.”