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Doctors said he had a cracked vertebra and a bruised spinal cord. As he lay in traction, Mike had very limited movement in his body, but he managed to move the wrong way, further damaging his spinal cord. After surgery, his prognosis was grim. Mike was a quadriplegic, unable to sit up, get dressed, feed himself, or go to the bathroom. Doctors encouraged him not to give up as they wanted him to remain optimistic. They didn’t tell him that 90% of the people who suffered similar injuries were never able to walk again. As he lay in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, unable to move, Mike thought “God, what am I going to do?” He says, “Three things came to me as clearly as anything I had ever heard.” They were:
Mike asked his wife to write down the messages and put them on the wall. As he struggled to recover, they were a constant reminder of what he had to do. Mike recalls, “I’d try to move my toe but I couldn’t. I could feel my muscle, but it wouldn’t move. I kept trying and little by little, I was able to move my toe.” And he didn’t stop there. Mike’s doctor sent him to the Rehabilitation Institute of Kansas City for his physical and occupational therapy. When he first arrived, Mike couldn’t even sit up in bed. After a while he was able to get into a wheel chair…then to walk with a walker…and he just kept getting better. “The therapists were my guiding light. I did everything they asked me to and more. I worked 24 hours, seven days a week to get better.” In fact, his therapist started calling him “24/7.” Besides strengthening his muscles, they treated Mike’s mind. “They offered psychological counseling and group discussions. They explained the nature of my injuries and what to expect. It helped me focus on how to get better once I understood why I was there.” After six weeks, Mike was ready to go home. The day he was released he walked 400 feet with a walker, but he wasn’t satisfied. He enrolled in the outpatient program and set a goal of walking a mile by July 2001. He did it, using a cane. Next, Mike set a goal of walking two miles… and then 10 miles by the end of the year.
As for how his accident and recovery have changed him, Mike says, “I used to live my life like the old Simon and Garfunkle song ‘I am a Rock’. You may remember the words, ‘I am an island. Hiding in my room, safe within my womb. I touch no one and no one touches me. And a rock feels no pain, and an island never cries’ I realized how wrong I had been to look at people that way because people were so wonderful to me. I saw how they cared and reached out to help. Now I realize that we really need to love each other and help each other. I also strengthened my belief in remaining optimistic and the power of the human mind. So I do look at everything that’s happened as a blessing. It changed my view of the world and my entire life.” |
Mike
was an active person.
Mike
returned to work and kept working to strengthen his body.