About Dana
Dana Liesegang, author of the book Falling Up: My Wild Ride from Victim to Kick-ass Victory, is a veteran who transformed her life through forgiveness after surviving a brutal rape and attempted murder by a fellow sailor while on active duty in the United States Navy. This left her a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the neck down. She is a recipient of the Hero of Forgiveness Award in 2014 by the Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance and is renowned for her expertise in spinal cord injury recovery. She now heals hearts worldwide as an inspirational speaker.
Biography
Dana Liesegang, author of Falling Up: My Wild Ride from Victim to Kick-Ass Victory, is a veteran who transformed her life through the power of forgiveness after surviving a brutal rape and attempted murder by a fellow sailor while on active duty in the United States Navy, that left her paralyzed from the neck down on October 25, 1990. This is where her new life journey began. Determined to walk again, she focused on the cure of her quadriplegic spinal cord injury. Consequently, she became renowned for her expertise in spinal cord injury recovery.
In 2007, with the aid of a walker and two spotters, she had healed enough to walk a 5k in 8.5 hours. Several years later, in 2012, she discovered that true healing comes from the heart through forgiving herself and her attacker. Dana realized that true healing required more than just physical recovery. This emotional breakthrough became a turning point, showing her that the real path to wholeness was through healing her heart.
Reflecting on her more than three-decade journey, Dana shares:
“After years of pushing my body to its outer limits, it finally let me know I needed to take another look at things. My late mentor Dr Wayne Dyer used to say, “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Three broken ankles in a 5-year period forced me to do just that. This began the journey from my head to my heart. I found the ability to heal my heart and realized that wholeness was the true healing. The cure for spinal cord injuries has yet to be found, but the healing of the heart is the true path this broken neck has taken me down. I broke C1-C5—an odd journey from my head to my heart. It’s the shortest distance and the longest journey a person will ever take.
It seems I had to break my head and neck to find my heart. Now with each new piece of my shattered heart that I heal, my shattered body seems to follow. We all have something life has thrown our way for our personal journey from head to heart.
What is Yours?”
In 2014, Dana Liesegang received the Hero of Forgiveness Award. Though writing a book was never her plan, Dr. Wayne Dyer insisted she share her story, so he secured a publishing deal for her with Hay House publishing Inc. Just three days before his passing in August 2015, he wrote the foreword for Falling Up: My Wild Ride from Victim to Kick-ass Victory. Although they couldn’t celebrate the book’s release together, Dana feels his spirit remains with her today, guiding her to share her story.
Dana continues to inspire audiences worldwide, encouraging others to heal their hearts and embrace forgiveness. She has shared the stage with the late Dr. Wayne Dyer and other leaders such as Dr. Bruce Lipton (The Biology of Belief), Immaculée Ilibagiza (Left to Tell), Anita Moorjani (Dying to Be Me), Scarlett Lewis (founder of the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement), Tony Rodrigues (founder of GetUpNGrow), Kate McCannon (founder of Mindful Return), Eric Swanson (founder of the Habitude Warrior Conference), and Tucker Bearden (Certified Ziglar Legacy Speaker). Her message is one of resilience, and inner healing, offering hope and strength to audiences across the globe.
Dana is a 2019 graduate of Colorado Mesa University where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree, Cum Laude. There she won the Student Showcase Award for public speaking with her most popular keynote on self-reliance. Dana now lives in Colorado with her husband, Kirk, their dogs, yellow Lab, Jasper, and Kelpie, Chica. As her healing journey continues, she finds comfort in fond memories of her late service dog, Jack, who like Wayne, is still a constant source of comfort in spirit.