[steve penguin]

im now 17 1/2 my injury happened a year and a bit ago, i spent my 17th bday in hospital and all of what should have been my final year at school, im now a vent dependent quad for life, bit of a bummer.

[RollinSince95]

I was 16 when i got shot

[Joewee13]

15 years of age. 2003

[Wheelz 16]

17 1/2

[sassymiss]

i had mine 2 months after my 13 birthday

[Kodie]

My accident happened June 11, 2002. It was a month after my 15th birthday. Diving accident left me C5 complete...

[scott pruett]

I was 18... accident happened the night before my 2nd semester of college. Downhill skiing, hit a patch of dirt, took a nasty tumble, C6 SCI. That was 1999.

[DarkAgdistis]

I was 15 when the butcher ... ooops, surgeon ... took my spinal cord for some sausage ...

[jayslx1]

I was 17, thrown out the back of a Ford EXP on March 1, 1991 . A senior in high school & turned 18 while in Spain Rehab. I'm now 36. Time does fly, just hope oneday we can all get back on our feet.

This post has been edited by jayslx1: 20 May 2009 - 06:24 PM

[Open Borders]

I was born quad. But I was in the hospital having a spinal fusion done for my 18th birthday - what a great present Lol.

[pinkangel]

i dont know if if i count but i was 19..i turned 19 about a month before, im left hemiplegic, as a result of my drink being spiked.xcat.x im 23 now.

[maisy1996]

16th june last year by a drunk driver.
im 13 now

[Shrike23]

I flipped my dad's truck, breaking my neck at the C5-C6 level, nearly 25 years ago on December 25, 1984 at age 16.

[Edtezky]

Hey i was injured at 14 in 2002. Im 20 now. Still had a good teenage life.

[charlottelouise]

i'm 18 now, accident happened hast summer

[Char]

I was 18 - just over a month before 19th birthday and after first year of college. Balcony fall. So, I spent my 19th birthday in the hospital. Not fun stuff......

[meadow]

i was 13, 14 now.

[USMC_FMAgirl058]

Uh, I was seven when I had my accident. I'm 18 now..

[tinabug]

My boyfriend was 12 4 months before his 13th birthday.

[AuntBird]

My niece's accident happened just two months ago. She is fifteen. I am just trying to find people to help me relate to her. I know I can't fully because I am not going through everything that she is, but I want to be there for her the best I can. She is quadriplegic. She has a C-2 incomplete SCI. She is at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia right now. On Saturday I was there and she was focusing really hard and was telling us "I'm going to try to move my right leg, or left foot, or left leg, or right foot," Each thing she said she tried to do and most things she could. When she has spasms she says, "That wasn't me." And when she is doing it she says, "I did that." I believe that she is voluntarily moving because I have witnessed it when she isn't. She also feels hunger, when she has to use the bathroom (and I know she is really feeling it because she tells us when she has to go and then asks us to check her and she went), she feels stomach pain when she is bloated (and you can see her bloating clearly in how large her stomach gets (and she is 92 lb. girl, so she is very small.) She also said she feels pins and needles in her feet. She is able to lightly shrug her shoulders and even though she is on the vent., her body is able to breathe. She just hasn't been weened off of it yet. She is eating from a G tube, but the medical staff has hope that she is going to be eating on her own in the next couple of months. From when this journey first began until now a lot has happened. I know she has a long road ahead of her, but doesn't this all sound very promising?

[Boomer]

The sand dunes at the end of 2002 + dirt bike + 65 mph + concrete sticking out of sand = bad crash. T 5-6-7 complete.

Life moves on though!

[mikeC5/6]

Geez it looks like half the people here were injured before 18... says a lot about being a teenager

[gordonr]

AuntBird, on Jul 21 2009, 08:52 PM, said:

My niece's accident happened just two months ago. She is fifteen. I am just trying to find people to help me relate to her. I know I can't fully because I am not going through everything that she is, but I want to be there for her the best I can. She is quadriplegic. She has a C-2 incomplete SCI. She is at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia right now. On Saturday I was there and she was focusing really hard and was telling us "I'm going to try to move my right leg, or left foot, or left leg, or right foot," Each thing she said she tried to do and most things she could. When she has spasms she says, "That wasn't me." And when she is doing it she says, "I did that." I believe that she is voluntarily moving because I have witnessed it when she isn't. She also feels hunger, when she has to use the bathroom (and I know she is really feeling it because she tells us when she has to go and then asks us to check her and she went), she feels stomach pain when she is bloated (and you can see her bloating clearly in how large her stomach gets (and she is 92 lb. girl, so she is very small.) She also said she feels pins and needles in her feet. She is able to lightly shrug her shoulders and even though she is on the vent., her body is able to breathe. She just hasn't been weened off of it yet. She is eating from a G tube, but the medical staff has hope that she is going to be eating on her own in the next couple of months. From when this journey first began until now a lot has happened. I know she has a long road ahead of her, but doesn't this all sound very promising?

Dear Auntie,

Welcome. I strongly suggest that you start again by using your post for a new thread. In the context of this one, it is just getting buried, but it desrves more attention.

Both you and your niece are beautiful.

At this stage, I would say the most important thing to do is to check the pressure sores. Pressure sores get started immediately and pressure sores kill. But without going there, they also incredibly complicate recovery.

So: Make absolutely sure there is no skin breakdown.
Make sure she is turning eery two hours.
Do not let her stay in a comfortable position for longer than that.
(Many peole ignore this one) Do not raise the bed part way. Either get her up straight or leave her all the way flat. This is because the pressure on the tailbone is worst at an angle and this is one place that often causes trouble.
Get her on a "sheepskin" (actually a kind of fluffy synthetic rug thing) because ordinary sheets are extremely rough and a crease in the sheet will dig straight into the skin. If the hospital does not offer them, bring them yourself and launder them at home.

And the most important rule: If there is anything at all going on, do not allow anybody to trivialize it. She MUST get off the redness (hopefully things have gone no farther) untill it COMPLETELY disappears.

Do I sound hysterical? Believe me, there is a reason. Read these two posts:

http://www.apparelyzed.com/forums/index.ph...mp;#entry120131

That is the first post in the thread, and the reply by Still fingers, which is number 11 down the page.

Bear in mind that Stilfingers is a pro in the SCI community, and even he still got caught by this crap.

What I want you to take away, is that it is NOT (getting hysterical again) normal to come out of the accute phase wih sores. It happens all the time, but it is not normal.

THIS MATTERS (ok get the straight jacket. take me back to my room)

Please take this more seriously than anybody around you does. Even that is not enough.



All the best to you and the young lady,

Gordon

P.S. Remember, you deserve your own individual thread. Start one.

[Meadowlarkmark]

pinkangel, on May 28 2009, 05:36 PM, said:

i dont know if if i count but i was 19..i turned 19 about a month before, im left hemiplegic, as a result of my drink being spiked.xcat.x im 23 now.

I twisted when I was 15, left me a C-4 C-5 quad incomplete, long, long time ago

[justin]

I was 15 rideing a goldwing lost control due to the rain hit a tree around 30 mph and well all i can say is the damn tree won ha ha. Im 18 now and love to party:)

[speedywheelz]

Yup was 15, now 24. gravity can be dangerous at times lol. but yep before was 18. have had a good life, still am, and loving every second of it.

[Meadowlarkmark]

not sure what you're looking for but I was fifteen, a motorcyle wreck 40+ years ago.

[RedRos3]

I was 9 days shy of my 17th birthday when I broke my neck. It's been 3 years and a month since.

[raybonda]

yes me to ,,,,,,,aug 5th ,,,,,,,,18 on aug 20th.
but that wasa looooooooong time ago.......1966 in japan.......
oh yes i am old now
Ray

[Hell On Wheels 916]

2 months before my 18th diving in a river.