Coping with a Spinal Cord Injury

Caring for a Quadriplegic

Our first bit of information came from a surgeon who simply told us that our son's neck was broken and his spinal cord had been severed. Though the surgical team would attempt a surgery, in which they'd remove bone fragments from our son's neck and reconnect his spinal cord with pins and screws, there was very little hope that he would survive the surgery. The surgeon's last words to us, before going in to attempt a miracle, were to inform us that very few people ever survive an injury this severe.

I'll never know what got our son through it. It might have been that he was only 27 years old, a young man in good health; or maybe it was just God's will. What I knew (or at least thought I knew) was that we made it through what had to be the hardest part of this tragedy. In the days, weeks and month's following that first step, I began to realize that it was just the first step of many and we were on a very long emotional roller coaster ride.

Learning about a spinal cord injury is not only emotionally draining but also fascinating. Once the surgery was over, we were actually told about the extent of our son's injuries. He had what they called a complete break of his spinal cord at the C4 and C5 level, which is at the base of his neck. I was amazed to learn that had the break been one inch lower he would have had the use of his arms and part of his upper body; but had the break been one inch higher, he would have been, as they say, a vegetable, unable to speak or even to swallow. As hard as it seemed to be, we had to consider that we were fortunate in that small way. My son was not only alive but very coherent and, at this point, still able to communicate with me. His body was very still, but his mind had not been effected. He was the same person inside that I knew before the accident.