When Unser was 12 years old, she left her middle school basketball practice early. She was tired and her legs felt strangely tingly. She woke the next morning, paralyzed from the chest down.

While in the hospital, Unser received piles of toys and other gifts from people who knew her father, the legendary racecar driver.

“I know the gifts were supposed to make me happy, but I actually became angry, because I looked at these other kids around me that were suffering and didn’t have any presents,” she said.

“I gave all those gifts away and it felt really good,” she said. “I realized that I could find a purpose in giving to other people.”

About a year later, Unser’s foundation was born.
“My mom and I were talking one day, and I was really frustrated by all the things that needed to be done but weren’t happening,” she said. “Doctors weren’t talking, information wasn’t being shared. I wanted to do what I could to help.”

The foundation was initially funded by NASCAR Winston Cup driver Bobby Labonte, who replaced Unser’s father, Al Unser Jr., in the 1999 International Race of Champions (IROC). Al Unser Jr. withdrew from IROC when his daughter became sick.

At the end of the season, Labonte sent his $60,000 IROC winnings to help Cody Unser. That check was deposited as the first donation to the Cody Unser First Step Foundation, and Labonte agreed to serve as the foundation’s honorary chairman.

As Cody Unser learned more about the disease, she realized that partisan politics was often behind which diseases receive research funding and which ones do not. She also became increasingly encouraged by information on the potential of stem cell research.
“The more I learn, the more hopeful I feel that there will be a cure,” she said. “A cure is coming. I really believe it.”

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