The Accident

So, most people who know me know that when I was in high school, I was in a diving accident at the beach where I broke my neck in 2 places. For most of you, I don't think that anyone knows the complete story. It goes really into depth, with a lot of exposition leading to the accident itself. So, since this is my blog and I can write about anything that I want, I am going to tell you the whole story of my neck.

When I was a junior in high school, I sat on the bench on my football team. I have to admit, it was mostly my fault. I didn't prepare as well as I should have in the offseason, and I didn't have a lot of confidence in myself. After a whole season on the bench, I knew that I had to put up or shutup. My coach decided that he was going to start a program for all of us called Bigger, Faster, Stronger. This meant that we had to show up at 6 in the morning 3 days a week until the beginning of next season. So I was there every single morning. As the rest of the year came and went, I was getting bigger, faster, and stronger. I was feeling more confident.

After I went to football camp, I decided that I was going to join my family and go to our family cottage on Plum Island. It was great weather all weekend. On Sunday, I was woken up by my father unplugging my air mattress and saying that I had to wake up. He said that it was our last day on the island, and we needed to take our annual swim over to the sandbar. In order to get to the sandbar, you had to swim across a channel that was about 30 ft deep. once you get across the 30 foot drop, it gets to about 5 ft deep so you can get up and walk the rest of the way. Once we got over to the sandbar, the tide started coming in right away, and soon the sandbar was going to be completely submerged. So I started to swim back. I turned around and noticed that all of my brothers were running and diving into the water. Of course, I felt the need to turn back and show off my diving skills just like my brothers. Little did I know that I was going to make the biggest mistake of my entire life.

When I dove into the water, I immediately knew something went wrong. It felt like I was thrown off of a water tube being pulled by a motorboat. I started to think that I was just disoriented and will get back to normal in a second. Then I realized that my body was not moving. I was trying to move, but nothing was happening. It was the first time that this had ever happened to me. I also couldn't breath. I started to think that I might actually drown. Luckily, my buoyant body was able to float to the surface. That was when I was able to barely get my head out of the water to let out a very weak "help!"

Just then, my father and brother were right there to grab me. My brother grabbed me under the arms, and my father grabbed my head and kept my head stablized. Once they had me, I started to think that it was just a stinger. That is when a nerve is pinched in your neck. Sometimes you lose feeling in your extremeties. That's what I was thinking. In the back of my mind, I knew that this was something much worse. I couldn't move my arms or my legs. Not only could I not move them, but I couldn't feel them either. And I was having a hard time breathing.

In about 10 minutes, my aunt, who is a doctor of physical therapy, was there to put my neck in distraction. After about 20 minutes lying on the beach, I started to get movement in my arms and legs again. My father wanted my to sit up and show my mother, who was on the opposite shore, that I was okay. If I had actually done that, I would probably be in a worse situation.

Well, was then rushed from boat to an ambulance. from there was rushed to a nearby hospital where they med-flighted me to Boston. There, they diagnosed that my neck was in fact broken. They told me that it is fixable, but the pain that I was feeling was probably never going to go away.

When I was in Brigham and Women's Hospital, they told me 10 days. I was out in 3. When I was at Spaulding Rehab, they told me that I had to be there for at least 8 to 10 weeks. I was out in 2. That's because I refused to give up. I refused to accept the fact that I was not going to lead a normal life. Like hell, I wasn't.

Now, I am almost 23-years-old, I have a theatre degree, and have a wonderful girlfriend. So, out of the darkness came something great. Not a day goes by that I don't think about that day. Not a day goes by that I don't think about what might my life might have been if I didn't get football taken away from me. I do miss it everyday. But, so much good came out of that accident. I would not be the man I am today if it wasn't for that day.

I know, for those of you who have heard this story a million times, I am sorry. But, I still love telling the story to those who have never heard it, even if it's only one person.