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As the saying goes, it’s not all about the destination, but also the journey. For those living with paralysis, the journey to one day return to their pre-spinal cord injury lifestyle can be extremely rewarding. That’s what one young woman is finding out.
The Post Independent reports that the young woman, a basketball player at Rifle High School, made a quick and nearly complete recovery from her spinal cord injury that occurred almost a year and a half ago. And what was the cause of paralysis in her case? She’s not even sure. All that she knows is that she is aiming to get back on the court as soon as possible.
Our firm’s spinal cord injury lawyers in San Diego believe that when you experience a spinal cord injury, finding the right course of paralysis treatment is your first goal, the second is determining an outlook for recovery, and the third is getting your body back to the physical condition it was in before the accident.
For this young lady, this meant returning to the basketball court as soon as possible after a December, 2008 dividing accident left her without the use of lower body, that is known as paraplegia. While in Playa del Carmen on a family vacation, her and her sister dove beneath a wave. Something went wrong because her vision turned white and control over her body was lost. Thanks to her sister’s rescue efforts and their father for stabilizing her neck, she was eventually transported to Miami for further treatment.
“I had a cracked C3 [vertebrae], cracked C4, shattered C5, a ruptured disc between 3 and 4,” she said. “They put a titanium plate from the C3 to the C6. They took out the disc and put screws in 3, 4 and 6 and put a synthetic disc on the front of C5 because they took the front of it out.”
It was there that she made up her mind to return to the basketball court — some way, some how, even if it took the rest of her life. No one who knew her doubted her, nor was anyone surprised when less than two months after the paralyzing accident she began to regain nerve sensation in her fingers and toes, eventually moving them on her own. A month after that and she had taken her first step during pool therapy. This was a fairly quick recovery, to say the least.
Now, in 2010, she is able to drive, write and stand on her own for 10 minutes. She credits her community for helping out financially with her new cost of living expenses and has become an inspiration by returning to play for the Bears, her high school basketball team. Simply by suiting up for the team, even if she doesn’t play one second in a game, is an inspiration to all those recovering from spinal cord injuries.
If you or a loved one have been involved in an accident and suffered a spinal cord injury or paralysis, we urge you to contact our bilingual offices as soon as possible following the accident at 1-858-551-2090 or please click here for a FREE consultation with an experienced paralysis lawyer in San Diego. We handle all cases on a contingency fee basis, which means that you pay nothing until we recover money on your behalf.
SENIOR PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY & FIRM FOUNDER
Michael Pines is a former insurance company attorney who graduated from the University of California Hastings College of the Law in 1987. While he was an insurance attorney, he learned from behind the scenes how insurance companies work and how they decide how much to pay injured people. Now that he works against insurance companies, Michael’s inside knowledge has resulted in significant benefits to his clients injured in car accidents. Learn more about Michael Pines