They Will Surf Again

World's best join Jesse Billauer in They Will Surf Again

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 23 July, 2009 : - - Professional surfers Kelly Slater, Mick Fanning, Rob Machado, Brett Simpson, Sunny Garcia, Coco Ho, Matt Pagan, Kolohe Andino, Kai Barger, Granger Larson, Courtney Conlogue, and Nat Young will join Life Rolls On Foundation (LRO) founder Jesse Billauer and three Life Rolls On surfers with spinal cord injury to surf in the LRO They Will Surf Again Expression Session at the Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing on Sunday, July 26 at Noon.

As Life Rolls On Foundation is the Official Charity of the Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing, the LRO “They Will Surf Again” Expression Session was created as a special exhibition to showcase Life Rolls On’s signature program, They Will Surf Again, which empowers paraplegics and quadriplegics to surf through the assistance of adaptive equipment and dedicated volunteers. 

During the LRO “They Will Surf Again” Expression Session, professional surfers will illustrate their most creative moves, while surfers with spinal cord injury will surf adaptively.

LRO founder Jesse Billauer was 17-years-old with a promising professional surfing career ahead of him when a wave pushed him head-first into a sandbar, fracturing his neck and severing his spinal cord, rendering him a quadriplegic. Despite paralysis, Jesse pushed beyond physical limitations to surf again.

Billauer’s motto that “Life Rolls On” eventually led to the formation of Life Rolls On Foundation, an organization which now touches the lives of more than 100,000 people each year thorough quality of life programs, spinal cord injury campaigns and outreach to newly-injured individuals and their families.

“We are grateful to the Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing for creating awareness about spinal cord injury and I am stoked to have the surfing community rally around Life Rolls On,” said Jesse Billauer.  “Rob (Machado) and Kelly (Slater) were among my friends who helped me get back on my board after my spinal cord injury, so it will be especially great to have them out there surfing in support of LRO.”

Donations will be collected during the LRO “They Will Surf Again” Expression Session and several sponsors will host fundraisers for the charity throughout the Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing.

Beginning today, Life Rolls On Foundation will have an interactive booth throughout the competition, located in the Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing Festival Village.  Guests are encouraged to support this worthy cause, as there are more than one million Americans living with spinal cord injuries and every 49 minutes, another spinal cord injury in America occurs.

To keep up with the action throughout the week, the Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing (@USOpenofSurfing and @HurleyLive) and Life Rolls On Foundation (@LifeRollsOn) will provide Twitter updates throughout the event.  Beginning today, there will also be a live broadcast of the competition on usopenofsurfing.com

WHEN:         
Sunday, July 26, 2009 at Noon, preceding the Men’s Finals

WHERE:      
Huntington Beach Pier (Main Street & Pacific Coast Highway)

www.liferollson.org

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Kris Nakamura

Industry - Surfersvillage