VALPARAISO | If Joe White hadn't decided to take a ride on a mechanical bull one warm July night four years ago, his life would be much different than it is today.

"I had a plan. I was going to get my house finished and keep working with my dad and my brother," he said.

But on July 25, 2003, White, now 32, did jump on the mechanical bull at the Porter County Fair. Seconds into the ride, White was thrown off and his life changed forever.

The fall crushed two cervical vertebrae in his neck, paralyzing him from the chest down.

"When I woke up in the hospital, the doctor said I had a 3 percent chance of walking again. I said that's better than 0 percent," White recalled.

It might have been that spirit that drove White to march on Washington three times on behalf of others with spinal cord injuries, form a local group to assist those with such injuries, sponsor a Walk for Those Who Can't next month and this week, go back to school to become a secondary science teacher.

"Before (the accident) I would do things to help out my friends and family, but mainly I cared about things that affected my life," White said.

But the accident changed that.

"I gained empathy. I see a lot of people in the position I was in that I want to help," he said. "I see something that needs to be done and I figure who else is going to do it."

White said he believes his activism began when he was doing Internet research on spinal cord injuries. He found groups and others on the Internet who knew what he was going through.

He returned this spring from his third trip to the nation's capitol, where he and about 200 others marched to draw attention to spinal cord injuries. He spoke to congressmen. This year, as an official with the sponsoring group, United to Fight Paralysis, he helped organize the second science symposium and worked to get sponsorships from model spinal cord hospitals.

"I always come back from D.C. and feel empowered and think of all the things I can do," he said.

Three years ago, he started the Northwest Indiana Spinal Cord Injury Group, which meets monthly.

"Our mission is to improve the quality of life for those with spinal cord injuries living in Northwest Indiana through education, advocacy, peer support and recreational outings," he said.

The group is important because many people with such injuries are isolated, he said. There are an estimated 11,000 new spinal cord injuries each year and there are somewhere between 250,000 and 400,000 people with traumatic spinal cord injuries in the United States - the number range is large, he said, because there has been no study in at least 15 years on those with spinal cord injuries and the numbers are determined by a formula.

"It started out with four of us. Now there are nine in the group," he said, adding he'd like to see the group grow. Information about the group can be found on its Web site at www.nwiscig.blogspot.com.

Members of the group, he said, not only lend support to each other, but also provide education and activities, such as a recent outing in Wisconsin to an adaptive water skiing clinic.

"I love to water ski," said White, adding his third venture included a ride on a specially designed boogie board.

His latest venture is the Walk for Those Who Can't event from noon to 5 p.m. Sept. 29 at Old Fairgrounds Park in Valparaiso. He hopes the walk will raise money and awareness. One-third of the money will be donated to Unite to Fight Paralysis, another third to paralysis research and the remainder to the Northwest Indiana Spinal Cord Injury Group to assist local residents. There also will be information booths. Anyone interested in helping or making pledges can contact him through the group.

He'll also have a booth at the Sept. 8 Popcorn Festival.

This week, White takes the next step in his life. He'll begin attending classes at Indiana University Northwest to become a teacher.

"I couldn't think of anything else I wanted to do," said White, who substitute taught in Valparaiso schools last year. "I like to teach. That's a lot of what I do with this (activism)."