Twenty-four-year-old Jordan Griffin is an unabashed adrenaline junkie who takes life by the horns every waking minute he gets.

"I love doing any kind of action sport - anything that gets my adrenaline going," the Steilacoom resident said.

For the past eight years, Griffin has endured 50 to 60 surgeries, mostly related to kidney stones - complications from becoming paralyzed from the chest down following a snowboarding accident on Orcas Island Dec. 17, 2008. He was 16.

"That winter we got a lot of snow," Griffin said. "The golf course is where everyone went to sled. I did a front flip and tucked wrong."

He sustained a broken wrist and fractured his C5, C6 and C7 vertebrae. Over the years, physical therapy has helped to return some feeling to his lower body and some movement in his hands.

"There were times I was mad at my health problems, but I have never had self-pity or depression," Griffin said.

Looking back on his life-changing injury, Griffin said it was surprising that he had the accident. In 2005 and 2006, Griffin was a fully-sponsored competitive snowboarder while living in Ohio sanctioned under the United States of America Snowboard and Freeski Association.

The day of Griffin's injury marked 16 years to the day since his father, James Griffin, a Navy veteran, was killed in action. Griffin and his twin brother, Josh, never met their father. Griffin's mother, Rachel, met James while serving in the Navy as a nurse. While Rachel was stationed at Fort Lewis, Jordan and Josh were born at Madigan Army Medical Center.

For the past eight years, Rachel has been Jordan's primary caregiver, encouraging him to accomplish whatever he sets his mind to.

About a year following his injury, Griffin felt called to learn film editing.

"I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do," Griffin said. "Film editing was a way for me to still stay attached to snowboarding."

In early 2012, Griffin attended the Art Institute of Seattle to study film editing. But after only four months of schooling, Griffin's body went into septic shock and was hospitalized for over a month in the intensive care unit. Unfortunately, he did not return to school.

In 2015, Griffin was featured on a segment of the Seattle-based web series Talk It Up TV. The show producers gifted to Griffin a scholarship to learn Abobe Premiere film-editing software; a second scholarship to take a course in script writing; and a one-year admission to the Seattle Film Festival.

"The Adobe Premier scholarship was really beneficial because it taught me film editing," Griffin said.

Over the years, Griffin has produced a handful of short videos of himself doing adrenaline sports. For example, while doing adaptive downhill skiing with The Outdoors for All Foundation, Griffin filmed his experience using a GoPro action camera.

His best friend, Spencer Sare, a mechanical engineering student at Washington State University, built a 4-cross bike for Griffin as a senior project. The Orcas Island community helped to support the project, raising $2,000. This August, Griffin plans to take the bike on its maiden voyage, participating in Crankworkx, a global downhill mountain biking event in Whistler, Canada. He will likely film his experience.

In addition to biking and skiing, Griffin has also taken up target shooting. On May 15 he will compete in a 600-yard shoot competition put on by the Tacoma Sportsmen's Club in Spanaway.

"To me, I think it's about wanting to show people you can still do things, even though your limbs are paralyzed," Griffin said. "You can get out and do what you love."