382 replies to this topic

[juls]

Know what you mean..i had to give up the guitar, which really sucked

[jane]

i havn't given it up - i still try and play it - not very well but i figure its good therapy for my fingers, touble is i get lots of wron notes.

[Texaswheelz]

Wow I just read through all the post here and have to admit it's caused a tear or two to roll down my cheeks. Not for feeling sorry for anyone but feeling proud of the type of people out there that move on with life.

My story. I was 16 years old and having a blast. I lived out in the panhandle of Texas, about 40 miles outside of Amarillo. Pretty flat and bare out there and the wind can pick up. I had a job at a sporting goods store in Amarillo at the mall, but only worked on Sat. and Sun. since during the week I was at school and aftetr school at what ever sporting event was in season. This happened in Oct so it was my favorite time of the year playing football. I was just a sophmore and there was only 3 of us that had made Varsity the rest of the Soph's were on the J.V. squad. My dad was the defensive coach and I played defensive end, but he wasn't the type of coach that played his son regardless of his talent, but instead I had to work 5x as hard and be 2-3 times better then the other kids or he wouldn't play me and have them think it was just because I was the coach's kid. He actually started a Sr. over me and we swapped playing time every other series.

Well this was the 5th week into the season and after the game the Friday before my injury the head coach had told my dad to start me and let me play the whole game the rest of the season as I was much better then the other person he was playing just to make it not look like favoritism. But my parents had left town that Friday night to drive to Oklahoma and visit family, so I didn't get this news as I had fought hard and long to stay home alone since I now had a job and was responsible for the hours I was given to work that weekend. They finally caved in and allowed me to stay there over the weekend alone for the first time.

So Sunday comes around and I get up, stop at the small store and get a coke and head into town on the 40 mile drive. It was very windy on this day and the road has tons of curves and hills in places. Normally I would drive my little sports car 100+ on these roads as there were never any cops out there, but on this day i was driving the speed limit and had my seat belt on. The last thing I actually recall was leaving town, I don't remember the next 20 miles at all. The first thing I do remember is hanging by my seat belt as my car is laying on the passenger side door. So I of course undo my seat belt and fall to the ground. My next thought was why is everything red, so I look around and find the rear view mirror laying there. I grab it and look at myself and my face is covered in blood and I have cuts all over it. I then remember trying to stand up and climb out, but I couldn't do anything, my legs weren't working. I just remember thinking I had broke them and was going to miss my next ball game.

After that I just remember bits and pieces. I remember a man hollaring and asking if any one was hurt and crawling inside the car with me. I remember holding hands for a long time and telling him and the other people that had stopped how to reach my parents who were 8 hrs away. I remember telling where I was from and where I was going, and I remember alot of praying. The next thing I know is I'm waking up and all I see is white and hear a loud humming. I started screaming and hollaring not knowing if I was dead or in a casket or what. Turns out I was in the MRI machine. I don't remember anything else untill a few days later when I woke up in the Intensive care unit. Probably the hardest thing in my life was having my dad, the toughest man I know, crying as he looked at me waking up and having to tell me I was paralyzed from the waist down. I of course was saying well I guess there goes this years season but I'll be back on the field next year.

The next few days were vague as I was in and out of it from my mophine, seems I had broke my back in at T6/T7, at first they said it was just bruised then they said it was complete, years later i found out it was actually incomplete. Both my lungs had also collapsed, I can't remember the number of stich's I had on my face and head from the glass, but it was a lot. After I get all the tubes pulled out of my lungs and stomach a few weeks into it I found out I also had a broken jaw that they never noticed because they were to worried about the rest. They asked me what I wanted to eat and I said a hamburger, they went and got me one, I took one bite and couldn't chew cause it hurt so bad. I got to spend the next two months with my mouth wired shut.

The person who was first in the car with me had to give the details of what happened as he was following behind me when it occured. Seems I was rounding a curve in the road that had a hill built up beside it, but the hill dropped off just about half way through the curve and a strong wind that was blocked by it hit my car there(weather reports from the day showed 50-60 mph gust), so I turned into the wind enough to correct my steering to keep from going into the other lane only to have the gust die at that time so I dipped a tire off the right side of the road. Seems it was gravel and my car was front wheel drive and I spun out, went back onto the road, across the other lane and into a ditch that was only about 6-8 inch's deep. My car being the sports car it was, sat very low, so that ditch was deep enough to cause the front bumber to dig in and I then flipped end over end, with the strong wind blowing behind me, about 6-7 times and then it stopped. They said I was in that field stuck in my car while the ambulance and fire dept came and then had to cut the roof off for 4+ hours.

I spent 1 week in ICU, 2 weeks in a normal hospital room and then 2 months in rehab. My Dr and Physical and occupation therapist all couldn't believe my drive to get up and around and out of there. They asked me what made me do it as most of their patients with that injury took that long before they normally even began wanting to get around. I told em it was because the day my dad was telling me I was paralyzed he also told me one other thing that I still remember and live by today.

"Listen son, before this happened to you there was 30,000 things you could do, now that number has been brought down to maybe 20,000. So you can either lay around and cry about the 10,000 things you can no longer do, or you can work your ass off and go out do the 20,000 you still can do."

I don't know exactly what number I'm up to, but I can say I've tried alot and done alot since that day. I of course still have those days though when i'm down and out and thinking what my life would be like if I had never had that accident, then a few years ago I told my wife what I was thinking. I told her that if I hadn't had that wreck my life would probably be completely different, I would have ended up going off to college on a sports scholarship and done this and done that. I was saying how funny it was that 1 day can completely change the rest of your life. She said yea she knew that she had also had a day like that. I asked what day that was for her and what had happened. She said she had went to wedding and married me.

[John Anderson]

Sir, you're story just make me in shock. Your dad seems like Colonel and what he said to me. I have never seen Colonel cry yet in this life and he always tell me that "Men don't cry" however, I've learn and discover the real truth.

While staying in ICU during the night, I could hear Colonel sitting beside me, praying and I could hear him sob and I know he was crying. Later on, I discover these very true words:

"Men don't cry, but it takes a man to shed tears."

Truth hold till this day, Colonel don't cry, he shed tears.

Thank you for sharing your story with us, sir.

[Survivor35]

Wow. I feel so guilty for complaining most of the time, as my injury seems like so much less than it could have been.

I was in an MVA in January of this year. I will be preaching at my local high school next prom season about drinking and driving. I wasn't driving, a really good friend of mine was, and he didn't make it. We went end over end, side over side, and back. We were both thrown from the vehicle, luckily I went into someones front yard, who had paramedics to me within minutes. I shattered 3 vertabrae, the first being at the T6 level, thank god no higher. The spinal cord was severed, leading to the dreaded "complete" word. I also suffered 3 different hemorrages on my brain, which I made a full recovery from, again, thank god, collapsed both of my lungs on impact, broke all of my ribs, severly lacerated my left leg, ruptured my spleen, which had to be removed, lacerated both kidneys, and my liver, which is still recovering, broke my collarbone and shattered my shoulderblades. (My nose was fine. I know that sounds stupid, but I was so thankful. LOL You gotta go through it to understand it.) I had never broken a bone before in my life, until this.

I was in a coma for about 2 weeks. Even after I woke up, I had no short term memory due to the head injuries, and everytime i went to sleep, I forgot. So, everytime I woke up, my family had to go through the pain of, yet again, telling me where I was, what had happened, and why I couldn't feel or move my legs. I went through pnuemonia really badly, had to have a trach tube put in, and bronschatomies done to drain the fluid from my lungs. I don't remember the first month in ICU at all. Or the accident, thank God, I think. They would not tell me who had been with me, in fear of the emotional shock.

After 2 months there, I went for a month in Rehab. Only a Month, which I have learned could have been a lot longer. I was in the accident on January 15, and was home, in a chair and with a brace contraption on my torso, by April 2nd, my 25th birthday. With my children. I just recently finished my outpatient therapy, after mastering the dreaded floor to chair transfer.

It could have been so much worse. God was on my side that night, while I was drinking and headed 90 miles an hour down a road with someone more intoxicated than myself. I got my wake up call loud and clear.

So here I go. It was 9 months ago a couple of days back, and I'm still here, and no longer on any pain meds, anti depressants, so I'm doing pretty good, I think. I still get mad sometimes, like when I drop a gallon of milk on the floor and have to ask for help to clean it up. And when I cant climb up the slide with my daughter.... But hey, I'm still here. Thats luck in itself, right?

Edited by Survivor35, 18 October 2006 - 01:09 AM.

[Texaswheelz]

Survivor35, on Oct 17 2006, 07:52 PM, said:

It was 9 months ago a couple of days back

Funny how i can remember this anniversary better then my wedding ones. Mine was 16 years on the 14th. Have now spent half my life as AB and half as a Para.

[hotwhlz]

I was injured in an auto accident almost 32 years ago (12/24/74). I was a sleeping in the car when we came over a hill on a snowy night to be met by a drunk driver (not officially) in our lane. Because I was sleeping and my seat belt, I suffered a whiplash injury. My injury is T12 complete. AT the time, I was 9 years old and I was put in the adult SCI ward after ICU. By the end of my first week in a chair, I was already doing wheelies. Since then, there hasn't been anything that I haven't been able to do. Drs would tell me "you can't do that" and I would prove them wrong (except for that walking thing).

My message from this goes to the parents of children with SCI. I attribute my can do attitude directly to my parents. They didn't treat me any different afterwards, even though other "well meaning" friends and family gave them grief for it. When my buddies were hoisting me up in to a tree, mom had to go in the other room because she couldn't watch but she didn't stop me. Along with the opportunity to do the things others were doing, came the responsibilities that others had - chores. Mowing, raking, dishes, etc. I hated that part.

There have been some setbacks along the way - 5 back surgeries (last one to implant rods), 2 flap surgeries, etc. For a while it seemed I spent more time in the hospital than home. Since about 1984, I have been relatively hospital free.

Last 5-10 years, I have been snow skiing, biking, waterskiing, you name it. I still laugh when people tell me how amazed they are that I am doing what I am doing. Even with my injury, I feel blessed. I see others and realize my injury is nothing compared to others. I was able to go to college and get my degree in computers. I now have a great job and two years ago married my soul mate. How ironic that she is a nurse.

I know that not everyone will have the same abilities, but don't give up on life. It won't give up on you.

[ParaforGod]

Hi Kristee
Please be patient I am new to this cite and not very good with a computer. My husband and I were in a Ultra Light plane crash Aug. 2000 it killed him and left me broken from head to toe and at deaths door. We had been married only 6wks. We flew over my Dads house to see if he was outside so we could wave at him. Dad was and we crashed there. We fell 250 ft. doing 80 when we hit the ground. I was in sugery 9 hours the first night and all they did was put pins screws and rods in me to hold me together until I was stable enough so they could go back in and repair. The doctors thought I would bleed to death the first night as soon as they put blood in it poured back out. I had organs that were bruised, a hemorrhage on my brain, a broken pelvis, and to much to type. My spine was severed at T4 I am a complete. I had 15 surgeries one was to amputate my Rt. leg. Yet I am blessed. Kristee don't be embarrassed we have all done things in our life. I went to Shepherd Center in Atlanta for rehab and they told us not to feel guilty because if we were paralyzed because of something we did wrong then everyone in the world would be paralyzed be- cause we've all took risks at sometime or other. Drive to fast, stop in our car to fast, pull out in front of someone in our car, Ride Motor bikes We were not the only ones to get on a Ultra light plane. There was trouble with the engine and we crashed. It just as easy could have been someone else. God Bless.

[mulepower]

My name is John.

I was a cab driver and one early Sunday morning picked up two men. It was real busy and i had already accepted another fare seeing this was a short trip. It was rainy and they told me their g/fs would be upset with them,if i dropped them in front of their apartment complex.I went to the back of the building,without hesitation and when i came to a complete stop,i became numb and had a loud ringing in my ears.The other guy behind the passenger seat,lets call him Sean, reached over to grab my knapsack as the guy behind me,lets call him Alex, told me to hand over the money. I was in shock,didn't know what to do and because i was noncompliant,Alex told Sean to get the money. I got a profused beating in my face and because of being oblivious to what was going on around me,Sean kept pounding and pounding away til he was able to get the knapsack off of my belt around my waist. Meanwhile,they ripped the radio mic out so i couldn't contact my radio dispatcher.They took off,leaving the doors open,once they got my 200 measely dollars. I tried to get out the door,couldn't move and all the while my dispatcher was wondering where i was, calling out for me. I couldn't answer him and i could barely make a wimper. I was frightened for my life and wondered how i was going to get out of this predicament. Finally,at this 6:00ish AM timeframe,the only thing that came to my mind was blowing on the horn,hoping it worked since so many of those cabs had non-working ones. I blowed for what seemed like an eternity,cryng out for mercy.

It was dense fog,rainy and cold on that April Fools day,how ironic that this happened on such a day.I could only hope someone heard me on a day when many sleep late. After a good 20 minutes of laying on that horn,a patrol car pulled up,never was i so happy to see one and as they approached me,i said as loud as i could i was shot. They opened the door and told me to hold on,while one radioed the call in. The other officer stayed with me reassuring me everything would be ok. The damage had been done and on that cool damp morning when the aumbulance came,i was cut out of my coat,taken to Roanoke Memorial hospital and later transferred three hours by ambulance to Duke Medical Center.The weather was to bad for helicopter.The ride was bumpy,painful and way to long on a hard metal bed. After arriving,the surgeon assessed my situation,told me the bullet severed my spinal cord and was up against my aorta.While i was stable,i would be a paraplegic from here on out.

I took the news in stride,yet after getting out of Duke,rehab and at home,things hit me. Many things happened between that time. I had black and purple bruises under my eyes and when the police brought me book lineups,i identified one man correctly,one incorrectly. The one i identified ,Sean,turned himself in ,after his g/f saw him on crimeline and told him too. On the other hand,the one i got wrong was understandeable since he was actually a cousin of Alex,the one who shot me at close range.When the cops came to the door with a warrant,the cousin blabbed and told all. He said Alex and Sean came to his apartment,which was across the street from where i was shot,bragged about shooting a taxi driver, all the while drinking their liquor and smoking weed. They picked Alex up at his grandmas. At the trial,Sean was upset at what he had done. Maybe he had a conscience,maybe he was sad because of getting caught going back to jail for 25 years,i don't know. He seemed sincere. The little one,19 year old and cocky Alex in a closing statement said," what do i need to say,it won't change whats happening to me." Alex was wanted by the FBI for killing someone in Atlanta and drug trafficking in New Jersey. His juvenile rap sheet was as long as an arm and should have never been able to be free as an adult.The saying once a criminal,always a criminal applied there. He had robbed someone earlier that night and in lieu of the charges got 70 years in prison. He'll die before facing charges in Atlanta and Jersey.


I know i'm fortunate to be alive. Having a 25 calibre gun at my back penetrating my spinal cord stopping at my aorta was a miracle. This killer could have put more bullets in me,he didn't and all for 200 dollars. I think quite often how could i have stopped it. If i would have just stayed home,even though i needed the money and the weather was good for people to call on cabs since the rain brought out a lot of calls. The first incident of getting hit by a drunk guy in the cab months earlier could have been a warning,i don't know. I always think if i would have just allowed someone else to take that call to Panarama and not been so greedy,would i be in the state i'm in today.The other guy who could've taken it,however he wouldn't been able to take what i got due to his health. I had always been healthy. Now i just try to survive daily.

[John Anderson]

ParaforGod, on Oct 22 2006, 04:37 PM, said:

Please be patient I am new to this cite and not very good with a computer. My husband and I were in a Ultra Light plane crash Aug. 2000 it killed him and left me broken from head to toe and at deaths door.

I am sorry for your lost. I personally love flying and I know what it feels like when planes go down. Again, sorry for your lost.

[icarus_melt76]

Adrian, on Oct 30 2005, 10:53 PM, said:

Mine was a classic motorcycle accident.

I was travelling down a road, minding my own business, and a car pulled out of a juction on my left(turning right) giving me about 20 feet to stop. I didn't manage it and collided with it just behind the front wheel and fell to the ground. They didn't stop imediatetly and proceded to run over my chest with the front wheel, crushing 5 of my ribs, breaking my collar bone and scapular too.

My level of break was T8-T10 right to left, the three vertibrae had to be fused, but now it's around T7 all over due to attrophy of the cord. I spent almost a year in hospital, 4 months on bed rest, and the rest trying to get my right arm to work as best it could.

All that was 7 years ago and i still find things frustrating, but have come to terms with the injury - although it took 3 or 4 years to truely accept it...

I don't think anyone truly 'accepts' it, not me, never, no how. Cope with it maybe.

Edited by icarus_melt76, 29 October 2006 - 03:13 AM.

[icarus_melt76]

bad idea..sry

Edited by icarus_melt76, 08 December 2006 - 03:45 AM.

[lune14]

Gosh it's just dawned on me that I haven't shared my story.

I was 16 at the time of my injury, just four days into summer vacation after my sophmore year of high school. My accident occured in the parking lot after work one night. I was knocked to the ground by an open car door and became wedged between the open door and the ground, lying flat on my back, parallel to the car. I became wedged as my arms fell across my chest when I hit the ground. I was dragged approx 20 feet on my back when the driver heard me yelling to stop the car. She then pulled forward (thinking she was on top of me with her wheels however I was "along side" of the car). When she pulled forward I was freed of the door but was in turn flipped onto my stomach, snapping my T11.

The rest is just novel-ish detail about how I was treated by EMT's and the folks who gathered round, etc etc so I won't bore you with all that drama. ;-)

My accident occured on my parent's wedding anniversary so it was and still is a difficult day for my mom. (My father passed away not too long ago). I keep telling her to be happy I'm here vs remembering the day negatively. It's interesting how these things have such a huge affect on the people around us, sometimes more than ourselves! I chalk it up to we, the injured, putting our energies into recovery we don't have a lot of time to reflect on the negative, whereas the people in our lives don't have that preocuppation. Hmmm I dunno.

Thanks for letting me share my story

This was taken before my surgery....

[judy_ca]

I was riding my bicycle a month ago and braked for an old couple who stepped out into the stteet. I hit the brakes and went flying over the handle bars. Broke C5-C6 with subjegation. Laminoplasty (4 rods and lots of screws) and bone graft. Does anone have tingling in their hands? Mine feel like they are always asleep. I am home now and I can walk, but my hands are bad. Help?

[keeptrukin]

My injury was from a fall. I fell off the roof at my job and dropped two stories onto my feet. I was cleaning out gutters at the property I worked at. I pissed of a squirl that then retaliated and chased me around. I lost my footing and well you know the rest. I walked (ok I stumbled) away from the accident with knumbing not knowing what really happend.

Two days after the accident I was completely paralized from my chest down. I was having incontinence issues and went to the doctor who misdiagnosed my problem. I was told that I just bruised everything and was set up for physical therapy.

A week later my doctor tried to get me in to see a neurologist and my workers comp wouldn't give authorization, so I was told to go to the ER. I didn't have a way to go so I called 911 and went to the hospital strapped down. I ended up being admitted to shock trama in Baltimore for a few days then switched to neuro-surgery. The doctors found a disc herniation that was hitting my spinal cord causeing my paralisis. They opted not to go in and fuse my back instead wanted to see if it would work its way free. It finally moved back enough to alow fluid to pass. I was in there for two weeks, then was shipped of the Kernan Hospital for inpatient rehab. I stayed there till I had all my ALS completed which only took me three weeks and I was discharged to outpatient rehab.

It's been three months now and no signs of improvement. I am getting ready to have a super pubic line put in to help with my inability to control my bladder. That is stilling being sorted out.

About two weeks ago I took a nasty spill down 12 stairs (head over heels) and ended up back in neuro-surgery inpatient for a week. I lost movement and feeling in my arms due to a bad bruise on my spine. I know have all function back in my arms.

I am still working twords improvement. And no I did not kill the squirl, I couldn't sort him out anyways. They all look the same.
KT

[Chilepepper]

Chilepepper, on Nov 15 2005, 10:15 PM, said:

In 1978 I was in a MVA that was caused by me. I rolled my truck into a pole going about 100 miles an hour. I did my rehab at Shadoke in Hamilton for about 6 months. My brake level is T9 incomplete. Then about two years after that I was in the back of a pickup with some friends going to anther New Years Eve party when the driver passed out and slammed into the back of a park car. I was thrown and hit back of the cab and broke the rods that were supporting my spine. So back under the knife I went to remove the rods. My therapy this time was done at Lynhurst.

IFound this old picture of my truck in which I got in the accident with. Man oh man it sure brought back some crazy memories. Thought I'd share it with you all

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[Chilepepper]

lune14, on Oct 31 2006, 02:57 AM, said:

Gosh it's just dawned on me that I haven't shared my story.

I was 16 at the time of my injury, just four days into summer vacation after my sophmore year of high school. My accident occured in the parking lot after work one night. I was knocked to the ground by an open car door and became wedged between the open door and the ground, lying flat on my back, parallel to the car. I became wedged as my arms fell across my chest when I hit the ground. I was dragged approx 20 feet on my back when the driver heard me yelling to stop the car. She then pulled forward (thinking she was on top of me with her wheels however I was "along side" of the car). When she pulled forward I was freed of the door but was in turn flipped onto my stomach, snapping my T11.

The rest is just novel-ish detail about how I was treated by EMT's and the folks who gathered round, etc etc so I won't bore you with all that drama. ;-)

My accident occured on my parent's wedding anniversary so it was and still is a difficult day for my mom. (My father passed away not too long ago). I keep telling her to be happy I'm here vs remembering the day negatively. It's interesting how these things have such a huge affect on the people around us, sometimes more than ourselves! I chalk it up to we, the injured, putting our energies into recovery we don't have a lot of time to reflect on the negative, whereas the people in our lives don't have that preocuppation. Hmmm I dunno.

Thanks for letting me share my story

This was taken before my surgery....
attachment

Yes it sure takes a toll on our family members. Even after all these years that have passed since that unevenful day my dad most of all is effected. He says when ever he gets a phone call at night he thinks of the worst, in that it could be one of my siblings that have been hurt or even worse.

[icarus_melt76]

Of course it was 'Leap Year', Feb. 29th/76. Had been racing MX bikes and doing 5-gear wheelies from a dead stop. Ski racing as well as freestyle....flips, 720's etc. Had been on Canadian Ski Patrol for 9 years. 1st aid to many people. Broken necks too, but 1st aid doesn't tell you what they deal with after you get 'em to the hospital. Three weeks prior to 'IT', I finally went heli-skiing in UTAH. The bottomless powder was all a skier could dream of. Soft, quiet and kinda like surfing. Each day jumped from a helicopter which usually couldn't land at the top. Just jump off the skids and yelp with glee. Guide showed us 'the best'....over a drop 'n you think your heart won't start again before landing. Basically, these all came easy to me. Different challenges had me crash into more trees and rocks. Don't know how my neck survived half now when I look back. Diving into pools, quarries and even from a couple bridges, I banged my head pretty hard. Nothing! Seems a lot of my quad friends were diving. Beats me how they didn't drown...can't move, barely breathe!

Hang gliding seemed to push everything else aside. Snow, rain or whatever as long as there was wind. Much like skiing while learning. Lotta bangin' the head there too, but what a RUSH when your feet leave the ground. That winter had a nice mild spell for the last half of Feb. (This is becoming a novel). So 'fast forward'!!

I fell from the sky.....only 'bout 60 ft./20 m. Was practising with some new equipment on my hang glider. Had a 2nd place earned (accum. points) on the Canadian 5-man team for the 1st world invitational competition in Austria that summer. My intense love of hang gliding and looking forward to Austria pushed me even further than usual. Our usual cliff site along Lake Erie was all wrong for flying. You need to fly 'into' the wind, and that was way off. One guy we had known on weekends told us about another site 30 miles up the shore. Desperate to fly we followed. It was pathetic.....small hill, cross-wind and gusty. Any one of those would normally say 'Don't'. After a few so-so glides, I tried my new harness which seemed okay. My 10 or 11 buddies were throwin' a football around and playing poker. It was that poor. Without feeling exhausted on a weekend I felt I had been screwed or cheated when I got back to work on Mondays, so I figured a few more flights.

Getting close to wrapping things up for the day, there was a guy blasting around on a moto cross bike similar to mine. Kept thinking I should ask to borrow his bike to blow off some steam before leaving. I'm sure he would have, he was quite enthusiastic about the whole gliding thing. Better judgement wasn't my friend that day. Getting maybe too cocky I tried my 'special' launch which gave me a huge advantage in competitions both up north in our ski areas as well as in the north eastern United States. Had many thermal and ridge soaring flights travelling 2 or 3 miles back 'n forth at approx. 4000 ft. for a couple hours. Free and quiet feeling not easily described. Hawks would circle with me sometimes.

Backup here. Went up 10 ft., swung left and my harness held me from where my body should move to. Kite slowed.... STALL!!!!....aagghhhhh. From flying to falling! That was it. Loud crack like a tree snapping when I hit the clay shore cliff. Rolled over attached to the glider couple times into few inches of icy lake water on my back. Early thaw melted ice and water was seeping from the cliff bringing mud and clay down on top of me. The 1st aid told me right away that I was screwed royally, but not the extent. Luckilly I had a lot of help. Still took 'bout an hour to move me along the shore as everyone was sinking in the clay while watching for falling crap as well. Lucky too the biker hauled ass across fields 'n snow banks to call an ambulance. After the HELLISH time on a Stryker Frame, I honesly recall the worst time was later being conned into a short stint at our Ski Patrol banquet then without warning a standing ovation for saving myself. Everyone making a big fuss and I couldn't lift a drink. Got a 5 ft. trophy and pic in the paper. Wanted to crawl under a stone.

Hope somebody can understand this. My mind is racing as the different memories dash through my head. Sorry for the length. I'm beat! Bye bye. (almost 31 yrs, sheeesh)

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[juls]

What an amazing story icarus...pretty impressive doing heli-skiing..i used to surf and was planning to go work at a ski resort a couple of months after i had my accident (obviously that was cancelled!) would have loved to have learnt though...nice photo

Edited by juls, 16 November 2006 - 08:59 AM.

[paige]

Guest, on Oct 7 2005, 11:08 AM, said:

Hi Kris

No need to be embarrassed, you sound like me. I had always done stupid things after a drink but nothing that seriously damaged me until I decided to dive into a lake at midnight in December, without checking that it was only knee deep. Broke my neck c5/6 - worst hangover I've ever had

my best freind 4 weeks ago broke his neck C6 he has been told he probably wont feel his legs again if anything at all , just wondered if you could help me by giving me some info on it positive and negative. Im very sad at the moment and wondered if there was any hope for him? I'd like to hear about you and how you cope x thank you x

[percepied]

Fell while rock climbing a pitch I had lead many times before. Pulled my first few anchors and decked after about 70 feet. Twenty-five years of rock climbing and I thought if I screwed-up I would have some magnificent flameout not be paralyzed in a wheelchair. STUPID! I just wish i could stop thinking about how I could of possibly screwed-up. It's that invincibility thing.

[wanting.that.newz]

Hey all... my story was kinda two parts because it was so messed up... ok 1st part was a snowboarding accident during a competitional race... a guy in front of me fell, and i hit him after he fell, then the girl behind me, landed on me, and so it was a total mess, then turns out him and i were both "never supposed to walk again" but we ended up doing so, as it wasnt anything complete or serious! then few months laster in the summer we were on a trip when we got hit by a transport truck and that i guess did it for me... i ended up with a T5 complete, so now thats where i am!

its pretty messed up, but i guess it wasnt the right time when i was snowboarding
(the other girl waas fine, other guy was fine, and i completed 3 more 1st places in a few other competitions after that! )

[rkzenrage]

Robert, 38
Birth defect, congenital disorder, and several injuries. I ignored the pain I have always had, been kicked by horses, been a construction worker (fell a few times), bouncer (self-explanatory) and finally just started to disintegrate from the disease... part of it being osteoporosis.
Advanced arthritis, was the first sign as a kid, then some neuro-damage, then spinal problems, one herniated disk after another... problem was they never really healed. My pain tolerance just got higher and higher until my system crashed and them things with my spine got hairy around my thirty second year or so. That is when they started to find the defects, and I started blowing-out disks... it just gets very ugly after that. One almost severed my sciatic nerve and I lost part of a few disks and the coccyx. None of that really healed up very well and I have a stimulator implant to deal with the damage to my sciatic and all of that crap...
Now my bones are breaking pretty regularly and everything just hurts all the time.
Injuries come now from falling, not from carrying hay bales or getting hit by drunks.

[JustME]

Hmmmm.... seems like diving accidents are quite common with SCIs so I'll share my boyfriend's story. Plus I'd like to get to know everyone a little bit better

On July 3rd my boyfriend, me, and a couple of our friends decided to go to my brother-in-law's lake house. My boyfriend really didn't want to go but I convinced him because he was working all the time and we never really got to go out and do anything.

Well we were having an awesome time, standing in the water by the dock, riding jet skis, and going for boat rides. About eight o clock our group stayed down at the dock while my sister went to cook dinner. We had been drinking all day and was just relaxing when my boyfriend began putting on a life jacket. He decided he wanted to take the jet ski out before it got too dark outside. Well before I could tell him no that he had way too much to drink, he takes off running and dives into the water....

He shallow dives all the time so I was ready to yell at him for doing it when he came up. Well he came up but was face down in the water. We thought he was kidding until he rolled over and his neck was at an awful angle and he said "Baby help me, I cannot move". I dropped my drink and jumped in the lake as did our friends.

He said he could not move nothing including his arms. By this time, I was freaking out and got out and started screaming for my sister to call 911. I immediately got back in the water and me and our two friends held him flat on his back until the perimedics got there. While waiting on the paramedics he regained the use of his arms but could not use his hands. They life flighted him to Grady where we had to wait a week for him to have surgery b/c it was a holiday weekend. After he was stabilized they told us that they did all they could do and that he would never walk again. His C7 veterbrae shattered and he fractured C6 and is considered complete.

While waiting to get transferred to Shepard, he developed a stage 3 bedsore in about two weeks. I think this is totally ridiculous and it should not have gotten that bad in two weeks at a hospital. Opinions on this would be greatly appreciated.

I also can't help but wonder what role the life jacket played in this... He doesn't remember and he says he hit his head but I still wonder, what if any role, the life jacket had. If he wouldn't have had it on, he could have possibly drowned, but what ifs are killer...


He is

[wanting.that.newz]

I truly have a feeling he would have drowned... If he has no use of any limbs right away it would have been really dangerous! although im sure you would have jumoed in the lake after you realized he didnt come up, it still wouldnt have gone well! It was a good thing he wore the life jacket then! That's actually a neat story, i mean, its not a good thing it happened, but it was just neat how it all planned out just the right way so hes still with you! xx buh byes xx

[WheelsWithAttitude]

I am a para t10 complete since 2001.

I took off from work on my motorcycle, on the way over to a friends house where we wanted to do some stuff on his cycle and I wanted to clean my bike a bit and stuff, at his place, since he had a nice garage.

I drove and came across a bigger piece of a rock, that was on the road, did not see it right away and it kinda shocked me when I went over it sort of.
I jerked on the cycle out of a reflex and could not get her straigthend out again.
Went off the road and got thrown off and against a tree.

I was aware of all that was going on at all times and it was the weirdest feeling I ever had.
I started to have a very sharp burning sensation in my upper back and then it started to tingle below like if your legs fall asleep only like a lot lot stronger.

It spread all the way out and down from the navel on down. Then after a while, I can't tell how long it was like that really, but maybe only minutes, the tingling went away...
Did not realize it at the time, but that was the last time I ever felt anything below the injured area.

I was found by a very nice lady, who even came to visit me a few weeks later in the hospital.
I had fractured my spine in two places and the dislocated fracture punched thru the spinal cord and caused a lot of bleeding into it.
English not being my native tongue I cannot think of the medical term but I hope you kind of get the meaning.
Also had a left ankle fracture but they did not even see this right away, and I did not feel any discomfort there of course.

Was in rehab for 5 months, and then did about 6 more weeks as an outpatient.

I am a complete SCI so have no sensation or movement below about the navel area on down.

[wanting.that.newz]

Woah, that's really scary! I was unconsciouss after mine, so I felt nothing! That must have been so creepy to know what was going on! I already posted mine, so I won't repost the entire thing, but mine was a snowboard accident which I survived, then there was a car accident, which put me back in that place... It seems like everyone in here has been paralysed for soo much longer than I have! It's only been like a year for me, not even yet! That's a really good story though (above story)
Thanks xx

[WheelsWithAttitude]

It never really dawned on me while all this was happening that I was going to be paralyzed.
I never thought that, really I don't think I thought much of anything other than I wanted this weird tingling to stop.

Like I said it was so odd, I still so not know how to really describe it that it makes sense to some able bodied person, when I get asked what that was like.

The odd part also was that aside from the stuff they put you thru in the hospital and then the surgery I did basically pretty good at first mentally.
The big hole came for me about two weeks on...where I just fell into a deep deep depression and was really an asshole towards ppl that wanted nothing than to help me and make things better and easier.


But I recovered from that too...today I have my bad days as far as being in a sad mood because all this has happened but overall i think I have for the most part accepted the new challenges.
What other choice is there, anyway? And I try to still do everything that I can do and try never to dwell too much on what I now cannot do anymore.

And yes it has been a little over 5 years for me now, but sometimes, I feel it was only yesterday.

Edited by WheelsWithAttitude, 24 December 2006 - 05:51 PM.

[Gabriella17]

Mine really isn't that long and I pretty much said what happened when I introduced myself but anyways.

I have been riding horses since I was 4 years old, my mom was a champion showjumper and that's how she met my dad, he bred horses so I guess I was always destined to do it. I had had a few different horses throughout my childhood, and I loved them all like other people love their dogs.

Anyway, it was March 11th 2004, I was 15 and I was riding my horse Reuben through some fields near our house. I was riding with my best friend Jack, he was on his horse. The ground was cold and hard that day and I was galloping on the horse as usual when she stumbled over a rock. I tried to stay on but the force was too much as the horse fell and I was thrown over her head and landed on my lower back/bum and then fell backward. I didn't blackout and I just remember looking at the sky and thinking I was in heaven cos all I could see was clouds and all I could hear was silence. That was until Jack started yelling and came over to me. I was pretty confused & kept trying to get up but my legs just would not move. I knew then that something was obviously wrong and I started to cry. Jack called for an ambulance and called my parents.

I was taken to the hospital where a scan showed a burst fracture at level L1 and it is complete. I spent the next 4 months in rehab which was horrible. All I wanted to do was be back on my horse and back at school with all of my friends. I knew I was missing out on so much. I finally came home that summer, and well, it totally sucked. I couldn't even get to my bedroom in my house anymore. We ended up moving to a new house which was wheelchair accessible so that made it easier.

I went back to school that September and it was pretty tough but everything is pretty much back to "normal" now, whatever normal is.

I am working really hard on my fitness at the moment and I know everyone probably says this but I know I WILL walk again, even if it is only a few steps, I will not be in this chair forever.

Gaby xx