My name is Mike Garrison, and I am just your average 34-year-old kid from the backwoods of Missouri. Do you remember the kid in school who struck out in t-ball, ran the wrong way on the basketball court, or got tangled in the soccer net? That was me.

My parents recognized that perhaps traditional sports were not my strong point at an early age and decided to buy me a dirt bike instead. I got my first dirt bike at the age of 6, and for the next 13 years of my life, I spent every moment eating, breathing, and sleeping motocross racing. I dreamed of growing up as a professional racer, making millions of dollars, being swarmed by hot chicks, and signing autographs anytime I left the house.

While attending a local race, in an attempt to make a pass for the lead of the race I collided with my best friend mid-air over a jump. We both came crashing to the ground in a pile of bikes, mud, and pain. The crash shattered my T5 and T6 vertebrae, collapsed both lungs, stretched my spinal cord, and left me paralyzed from the chest down.

I was told that I may never walk or feel again, and obviously never ride a dirt bike again. Unfortunately, everyone that told me that had never met anyone from MotoDemption. On August 27, 2021 (15 years to the day of my injury) my wife and I celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary in the mountains of Colorado as against the odds I swung my leg over a bike once again to do what I love.

Someone once asked me how I found happiness and a life that I love, and all I could say was, “It started as just a kid and a dirt bike…”