Blogger Profile: Help Codi Heal

Over the years I have profiled bloggers from the Northwest Territories to the Fraser Valley, anyone that interests me and that I hope will interest you as well. A few years ago I started asking a standard set of questions and after hearing about some unique bloggers around Vancouver recently, I decided to revive the series. Enjoy!

Codi Darnell of Help Codi Heal

Website: Help Codi Heal | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

How long has your blog been around?
After my accident in March 2016, my friends started the hashtag #helpcodiheal. I began to give short updates on my recovery process through Facebook and Instagram using this hashtag. As the months went on, my updates were getting longer and I started to feel like I didn’t have the correct platform. I’ve been sharing my journey on helpcodiheal.com since January 2017.

What is your role?
Help Codi Heal is my personal project. I do all of the writing and design. I have a friend who edits some of my posts for me and helps me with some of the technical set-up.

What does your site do/what is it about?
My blog focuses on my life as a woman, wife and mom with a twist: a spinal cord injury. I write about all aspects of my life and how it has and has not changed with the addition of this disability. I try to find humor within a lot of the struggles and use sarcasm to my advantage. I want to ease the tension of the reader and truly show them what it is like to be me.

What can people see, read, and do when visiting your site?
When someone visits my blog they will get an honest look at what life is like for me and my family. You will get to know some of the lesser known truths about living with a spinal cord injury and how we overcome the obstacles of life in a wheelchair. I like to showcase some of the adaptations we have made to our life in order for me to be independent.

A lot of people don’t have much, or any, experience in their lives with people who have a disability and the unknown can be hard to imagine. I always hope that someone who visits my site will leave with fewer misconceptions of people with spinal cord injuries and a better understanding of our capabilities

Why do you blog?
As cliché as it sounds, I first started blogging (even before my injury) because I love to write. After my injury, it helped me to process all of the emotions and learning experiences that came with my sudden paralysis.

“My family was, and is, my motivation to take my life back; I survive on them, sarcasm, white wine, popcorn and good conversation.”

Through the feedback I would get I discovered that, in the process of blogging, I was teaching people about living life with a disability and opening their eyes to a world they didn’t know anything about.

It is also really rewarding to have someone write to me and tell me that I helped them in their recovery in some way. In short, I write to heal and I write to spread awareness.

What is the ultimate goal for your site, how would you like to see it grow?
When I first started Help Codi Heal it was all about coping. Now I find that reaching people and helping to change the misconceptions that are out there about disabilities and the people who live with them is a large part of my healing.

I would love to talk more about the accessibility of events and attractions in the Lower Mainland in order to help other families who travel around with a wheelchair in tow. And as I learn things, I want to continue to share them in the hopes that they might help someone else.

Follow

Follow Codi on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Read all entries in my Blogger Profile series and feel free to suggest a blogger for possible feature in the comments of this post.