This month’s spotlight is on Joanna Adams from Portland, Oregon. The KBF is still beaming from our 3rd Annual Turns & Berms Camp in Bend, Oregon, where Joanna has joined u s for the last two years. With the support of KBF and Oregon Adaptive Sports (OAS), she got to spend time skiing on her HOC Groove Monoski with other advanced monoskiers, and try out a Bowhead Reach on the mountain bike trails- all in the same day!

Skiing and biking with OAS feels like a bit of a homecoming for Joanna, as she had most of her ski lessons with the organization when she first started monoskiing over a decade ago. She received her first KBF grant in 2014 for a monoski so she could spend time on the mountain with her husband. Then, in order to bike in her local community and in anticipation of spending time outdoors with her growing family, Joanna received a grant for a handcycle in 2019. The following year, Joanna’s son was born; they welcomed their daughter three years later.

“I am incredibly grateful to the other adaptive moms I have met in my adaptive motherhood journey,” says Joanna. “It is a powerful community to be with other moms who are fiercely independent, encouraging, and supportive of one another.” Joanna’s son recently did his first 5-mile mountain bike loop as a 4.5-year-old and even got to help push Mom over some hills and rocks! The family is looking forward to her daughter getting independent with skiing and biking so they can all be together and have fun in so many different ways outside.

Joanna has worked in Neurosurgery as a Physician Assistant for 10 years and finds so much value in being able to counsel and mentor patients that come through her Level 1 trauma hospital with spinal cord injuries. Additionally, she volunteers as a peer mentor at her local inpatient rehabilitation hospital where she was a patient 15 years ago. She loves being a connector of people so they can network and find opportunities and individuals to support them in their new iteration of life and when they are ready, open up their lives to adaptive sports.