CHICAGO — Skal Labissiere was 13 when, while at his family home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck, sending the walls of his room crumbling down. One wall wound up leaned against a desk, trapping Labissiere underneath with his brother and mother. They were there for hours before finally being pulled out from the rubble, but Labissiere couldn’t feel his legs when he was freed. His legs were damaged to the point he had to teach himself to walk again after that, a process that took weeks. It was months before he felt normal again.
“It was definitely a hard time for me,” he said.