Travis Roy honored 20 years after paralyzing injury

It’s been an exciting month for Travis Roy (’00), who recently signed a one-day contract with the Boston Bruins and was the subject of an ESPN E:60 feature.

On October 20, 1995, 20-year-old Roy crashed into the boards while playing his first collegiate hockey game with Boston University, suffering a cracked fourth vertebra that left him paralyzed from the neck down.

A few years after the incident, Roy founded the Travis Roy Foundation in 1997, and after going through intense rehabilitation, graduated with a public relations degree from COM.

"To date, the foundation has raised over $6 million," Roy said. "We have funded a number of cutting-edge research labs around the country. We've helped over a thousand individuals with wheel chairs, with voice-activated computers. Now, I feel the attention towards the foundation and my life is a little more warranted. I feel better about it, which is just nice. I'm proud of the work we've done, proud of the community."

To top it all off, this year Boston Mayor Marty Walsh declared October 20th “Travis Roy Day” to honor the former COM student. Roy has continued his efforts to make the future brighter for countless others with spinal cord injuries, and this month held an event at Agganis Arena to help endow the organization’s adaptive equipment grant program.

“There are highs, there are lows, but there's been a heck of a lot more highs than I ever thought, and far fewer lows than I ever expected. I'm just feeling grateful," said Roy.