My Story
My name is Sebastian Broussard (@sebastian_broussard) and 3 years ago, on February 2, 2016, I broke my neck at the C-5 level. Throughout my 3-month hospital stay, I faced countless challenges, from a trache in my neck to several collapsed lungs all the way to pneumonia. On top of this, I had to come to terms with the fact that I was going to have to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair which led to depression. I took it one day at a time and slowly, it started to get better.
Life will get better with an SCI
If this is an issue you are struggling with, it will get better, just be patient. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of strength. Don't be afraid to ask for help. One thing this injury has taught me is that you can’t take anything, or any minute of your life for granted whether or not you have a disability. This meant putting all my effort into rehabbing and regaining as much function as possible. There was not much function to be regained since I had such a high-level injury and as it now stands I can not move my fingers, abs or intercoastal (rib) muscles. So at the time, I immersed myself in gaining as much muscle as I could so that I could do as much as possible with the little function I had. I can now drive myself, play rugby, and live a relatively normal life. I am still trying to improve my independence every day, whether it's going to the gym or trying that one thing that I wasn't able to do yesterday because every little bit helps. I have surprised myself with the amount of progress that I’ve made, and still, continue to do so. So if you are reading this, why not you? You can accomplish your goals too, you just need to put your effort into something, anything. Whether it’s sports, academics or therapy, it doesn’t matter. And who knows, you may even surprise yourself too, but you’ll never know unless you try.
