The Hospital: part 2

Post-op I'm laying in bed just wondering what happens now. Where do I go from here? All those thoughts are wiped out by my family. They were so supportive and made sure that I would have everything to continue my dream of playing college football. I was in the hospital from Saturday the 23rd to Thursday the 28th. I didn't do too much in the hospital except lay in bed, and enjoy the nurses. Luckily I was still 17 so I was admitted to the children's hospital. The nurses in Florida, especially in the children's hospital, are beautiful. I don't think I had a bad looking nurse. But on a more serious subject, I felt bad for my mom, she stayed with me the whole time. She would sleep in a little hospital chair. She would go to my brother's apartment to clean up then come right back to the hospital. I don't even know what she ate, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't the greatest. While I was in the hospital I talked to the lawyer about suing the guy that hit us. I had to sign papers to get that process going (it is still ongoing). Towards Tuesday or Wednesday I got to walk around a little bit to get my legs back. Thursday they released me.

The Hospital

I remember waking up in the hospital and my brother, mom, and 2 of my uncles were standing around me. I was so relieved to see my mom. She and my uncles (her brothers) flew down when they found out that the accident happened. The first night, the doctor told me that they would go in and check and see if they could repair any damage that was done to my hands. If nothing could be repaired then they said that they would go back in the next day (Sunday) and try again, but if nothing could be repaired then they would have to take my right hand. So Sunday it was time for the second surgery, and the docter told me that it was almost certain that they would have to amputate my hand. I just started crying, and the first thing I thought about was what was going to happen to football. I had a scholarship to play at a Division II school in Indiana. So before surgery that's all I thought about.

The Day in the Life of an Amputeed Athlete: The Beginning

This is about my car accident and me getting through it.

July 22, 2005 is the day that changed my life forever. It was a beautiful Saturday morning in Florida, and my brother, his girlfriend, and I decided to go out to breakfast. We were driving along I-95, and then we get clipped in the back of Land Rover by a van. For those of you that know about vehicles, you know that Land Rovers are top-heavy. So obviously the car tipped over on the passenger side, the side that I and my brother's girlfriend was on. On impact, I try to brace myself and on impact the windows shatter and both hands end up outside the window. The vehicle skids for about a quarter mile. When the car stops, my brother climbs out of the car and calls 911, and tries to find away to help us get out. I am extremely scared at this point, but oddly enough I didn't panic. I was talking to my brother's girlfriend to keep her calm and surprisingly keep her alive. (I found out months later that if I hadn't talked to her, she could have been in serious trouble and could have possibly died.) I blacked-out so I don't remember a lot of things that happened. I vaguely remember getting into the ambulance. I just remember waking up in the hospital.