Educational Media Reviews Online

This is the story of Cody Unser, daughter of NASCAR legend Al Unser Jr., and her unflappable quest to walk again. Cody was paralyzed from the waist down at the age of 12, suddenly stricken while playing basketball and later diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis—a neurological disorder. As a beautiful young college student, age 21 at the time of filming, Cody cannot remember what it feels like to walk but she literally and figuratively dreams of walking once again. Cody: The First Step chronicles her insatiable quest for medical knowledge and the first steps toward clinical trials.

After accepting her initial diagnosis, Cody embarks on the road to understanding everything she can about her condition. This drive fuels her life goal of someday walking. It informs her choice of a college major – designing her own program in “Biopolitics,” it is the basis for her fundraising efforts for her foundation, and along the way it reaps innumerable benefits not just for Cody, but for all disabled people. The same can be said about the film itself—it not only will appeal to the general public as a consciousness-raising tool, but has a place in academic institutions as a teaching tool for those in health sciences and rehabilitation programs. The nice thing about Cody: The First Step, is the inclusion of all the details, some very intimate, of Cody’s life as a paraplegic and the research involved in finding a solution and the work towards clinical trials.

Cody Unser is a remarkable woman. Sure, she grew up in a more privileged environment and had access to the best care, and is a gorgeous, bright, charming young woman—but the fact that she made this film, letting the world see the struggles (physical, emotional, and mental) of everyday life in a wheelchair, speaks to the incredible determination she has to help make progress in neurological medical research happen. Filmmaker Chris Schuler has created a first-rate program—one that deserves wider viewing on major networks (PBS?). The intricacies of life for a paraplegic, the medical research aspects and the intertwining of politics, medicine and the power of the individual make this film highly recommended for academic health sciences library collections, particularly those with concentrations in neuroscience, rehabilitation and disability studies.