Benefit for Victims of Spinal Cord Injury at McFadden's on Saturday

Thirty-five-year-old Stephen Seder was told in July that he would spend the rest of his life as a paraplegic.

The 1996 Deptford High School graduate damaged several vertebrae in his neck when he struck a sandbar while swimming in North Carolina over the summer. 

While still acclimating to the tragedy, Seder and his fiancee, Mandy Stroud, are planning for a future in which they and their two children are somehow able to overcome the enormous medical bills his injury has generated.

Something similar happened to Jim Sebest of Lancaster, PA, in August 2010, when he hit the ocean floor at Bethany Beach, DE, and suffered a spinal cord injury. 

Jim and his wife, Andi, are raising their two children while he tries to regain the ability to walk with aqua therapy.

Harry Storz of Cape May County was riding his motorcycle in Philadelphia in June 2011, when he was struck by a driver who came across four lanes of traffic.

Storz was in a coma for two weeks, and also suffered a broken neck, fractured jaw, punctured lung, fractured ribs, arms and wrists. Today, Storz, who has three sons of his own, is a quadriplegic who lives with his parents.

This Saturday, you can help all three families with a visit to McFadden's at Citizens Bank Park, where the nonprofit A Step Toward Hope is hosting an Oktoberfest benefit.

Founded by Chris Miles of the Moorestown, NJ-based Miles Technologies, A Step Toward Hope will raise money to help the men try to overcome their injuries and learn to walk again. 

Tickets for the event are $50, which covers food, beer, wine, and live music. There will also be a silent auction. For more information, visit the event site here.