Road to Recovery
On the April 8th 2017 at a family friends BBQ, I dived into the shallow end of a swimming pool. After hitting my head on the bottom I realized I couldn't swim to the surface because I'd lost movement in my legs and power in my arms. My dad (a retired GP) and friend immediately knew something was wrong, pulled me to the surface, and stabilized me in the pool until the ambulance came. I was transferred to Southmead Hospital with a fracture dislocation at the C6/7 joint. After a number of MRI scans and X-Rays the doctors decided to operate at 2am to stabilize my neck as pressure was being put on my spinal cord. In surgery they removed my shattered disc, relocated my vertebrae and fixed it in place with a metal plate. I woke up in the ICU, luckily completely coherent, however no feeling below my neck other than limited movement in my right arm. Going from playing professional sports to a wheelchair is a bit of a shock. You never think this is going to happen to you, but it did, now I've got to deal with it. I have decided to document my recovery so that it can hopefully help others in a similar situation. This is my road to recovery!
