Member Profile: Tyson Gentry


Gentry’s foundation helps with travel costs so loved ones can support people with SCI when they need it most.
Gentry’s foundation helps with travel costs so loved ones can support people with SCI when they need it most.

Knowing that friends, family and even strangers are thinking about and supporting you can make all the difference in the wake of a traumatic injury. Tyson Gentry learned that first hand when he was paralyzed trying to make a catch during an Ohio State football practice in the spring of 2006.

“When I was in the hospital, Ohio State fans were sending cards and get well letters and things like that and some people sent my parents gas cards because they heard that it was a two hour drive from my home town to Columbus and they wanted to help with alleviating the cost of traveling,” Gentry says. “That always stuck with me.”

Gentry wound up as a C5 quad but didn’t let that stop him from finishing his degree, getting married and eventually obtaining a master’s degree in counseling.

Nine years later, Gentry has launched his own nonprofit to help others the way his supporters helped him. The New Perspective Foundation provides funding for travel and lodging so that the families and friends of people with new spinal cord injuries can be there to support them in the hospital and during rehab.

“People have hospital bills and everything else that gets thrown onto your plate after an injury, and we just thought that travel expenses were something that families shouldn’t really have to worry about,” says Gentry. “What’s important is that they can be there by the side of the individual who is in the hospital.”

Gentry and his wife, Megan, have been developing the concept and logistics behind the Foundation over the last few years. “We want to become the Ronald McDonald House of spinal cord injuries initially and expand from there,” he says.

Tyson Gentry

They got nonprofit status last December and launched the Foundation’s website in February. Right now they are focusing on assisting people in Ohio and Florida, where they live. Once they get the word out about their services and get settled in, they hope to grow to serve all 50 states.

“Our biggest detriment right now is that nobody knows that we exist, so obviously we are trying to get in touch with SCI units in Florida and Ohio to just spread the word and get case managers to know that we’re out there and the services that we provide,” says Tyson.

One place where they definitely know the Foundation exists is Buckeye Nation, Ohio State’s famously rabid fan base.

“I grew up in a suburb of Columbus so I knew Buckeye Nation was so strong,” says Megan, “but the way people that don’t know Ty personally but remember his story have rallied around the Foundation and how much support and encouragement they’ve given has just been so amazing.”

Much of the Foundation’s funding to this stage has come from sales of prints of a painting by Tyson that speaks to Buckeye fans’ favorite pastime: beating Michigan in football. His senior class was the first to beat Michigan five years in a row. Each year the team did so, players received a pair of gold pants. Tyson painted the five pairs of pants and inscribed them with the Michigan game scores and the headline “How firm thy friendship …” He has sold 130 of 200 prints and says they have inspired many more donors to give substantial amounts.

Megan says that even more than the paintings, it is Tyler’s attitude and personality that inspire donors. “People see him in the way that he is and how positive and happy he is all the time,” she says. “He radiates it and it really draws people to him.”

For more information, visit www.newperspectivefoundation.org or send mail to New Perspective Foundation, 10801 Starkey Rd., Suite 104-223, Seminole, FL 33777.


Support New Mobility

Wait! Before you wander off to other parts of the internet, please consider supporting New Mobility. For more than three decades, New Mobility has published groundbreaking content for active wheelchair users. We share practical advice from wheelchair users across the country, review life-changing technology and demand equity in healthcare, travel and all facets of life. But none of this is cheap, easy or profitable. Your support helps us give wheelchair users the resources to build a fulfilling life.

donate today

Comments are closed.