At first, paralysis treatments and cosmetic touch-ups might not seem to go hand-in-hand but a group of San Diego based doctors are helping to treat those with paralysis or other disfiguring injuries by using re-constructive surgery.

According to AOL Health, you won’t have to worry about your medical bills from the procedure.  That’s because Doctors Offering Charitable Services (DOCS) do their humanitarian work solely from donations.  As our firm’s paralysis lawyers in San Diego know, that’s a rare thing these days.

DOCS help to treat everything from paralysis to facial disfigurement.

“Our goal is to heal bodies and souls,” says one doctor, one of DOCS’s co-founders.

When other medical professionals and insurance companies give up on someone with a spinal cord injury or who was disfigured in an accident, that’s where DOCS steps in to help.  Because their practice is viewed by many as “cosmetic,” insurance companies tend to deny paying the costs of the treatments, which reach the $25,000-plus range.

But in the nine years that DOC has been operating out of San Diego, there is one patient that stands out to the doctor: ex-Marine.

“When I first saw him after the accident I didn’t have much hope.  He was never supposed to walk again, and his injuries were some of the worst I have ever seen. Every time he walks in my office today, I am overwhelmed.  I look at him and know what courage means,” the doc said about the 21-year-old man who was stationed at Camp Pendleton when he experienced a horrific car accident.

During a terrible rain storm, the man was behind the wheel of a car carrying three other military personnel when his vehicle veered off the road and down an embankment, rolling over several times before coming to a stop.  When emergency crews arrived at the scene, they found he had been paralyzed from the chest down and had his face, literally, torn off.

He was airlifted to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla where he began his paralysis treatments and underwent nine surgeries.  His neck and back was broken, one lung was collapsed and his face was completely damaged.  Still, when he awoke from the medically induced coma, he had to come to grips reality.

“One of the first memories I have after coming down from the morphine was of my mom explaining what had happened to me, that I had been in an accident and was basically paralyzed,” he remembers. “I remember telling her ‘I don’t want to be paralyzed.'”

One week later, the man found himself transferred to his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico where he would take part in a strict rehabilitation therapy at a local veteran’s hospital.  For five months, the soldier dedicated himself to his paralysis treatments and tried to get back on his feet.

Thanks to DOCS and his paralysis treatments after the accident, our firm’s paralysis lawyers are proud to say that he is back on his feet.  He now has a wife and a family, and he attends school for a degree in engineering.  To look at him today, you wouldn’t think this man couldn’t smile, let alone walk after his life-changing accident nearly a decade ago.  But with dedication and hope that he could overcome his spinal cord injury, this man forged on to the next chapter of his life.

If you or someone you know has a spinal cord injury or was paralyzed during an accident, contact our bilingual San Diego law firm at 1-858-551-2090 for a FREE consultation with an experienced paralysis lawyer.  You may also click here and submit your case for a FREE online review.  We work on a contingency fee basis, which means you owe nothing until we recover a fair settlement on your behalf.