WHEEL WORLD NEWS
February 2018
13
Then it was time to get back to life and try to figure out what to do with the rest of it. What function I had by that point is exactly what I have now, 22 years post-injury. I did not suffer severe brain damage like the Neurosurgeon had predicted, but I am a C6-C7 Quadriplegic. I cannot move my fingers, my forearm flex is there but not strong, and I have no tricep in my right arm. My left triceps is full range but only about 30% active as far as strength. Other than that I can’t feel or move anything below my chest.
The hardest physical part of my injury was losing hand function. At first, the nerve pain shooting through my thumbs had slowed down any progress in practicing how to hold or pick things up. I had always been a physical worker into anything mechanical. It then seemed like I’d have to be an office / computer geek. I tried a local community college and long story short, it wasn’t for me. I changed my major a few times and ended up with almost a 2nd Associates Degree which is really no better than a High School Diploma.
In 2000, I started a Car Club, and in 2004 I started an Automotive Repair shop and Used Car Dealership. The business had a rough start, and in hindsight had poor planning, causing it to go bankrupt in 2007. In 2008 I gave it another chance in the same location and doing the same thing. I added a NYS Safety & Emissions inspection station, an Insurance inspection station, and started installing breathalyzers into vehicles owned by DWI offenders. The business grew and then I sold it in 2015 after deciding that I was sick & tired of the New York weather… sticky summers and cold, icy, overcast winters. I had to move back to Phoenix finally!
Continued...