Cindy Donald Foundation — Dreams of Recovery

I am a 32 year old male born September 22, 1980.  I live in a small town called Blakely in the southwest corner of Georgia’s map.  I have three siblings and they all live out of town, two in another state.  My favorite hobby is art of any kind.  I like tattoos, wood work and drawing.  My wife got me a wood burner for fathers day and I use it a lot in my spare time.  I also like to go to church.  I have three sons.  They are 15, 10 and 4 years old.  They are my pride and joy along with my wife.  We have been together 16 years!  We started dating August 22, 1996 and got married December 24.2004.  My wife is a registered nurse and does a great job caring for me at home.  I try to be as independent as possible so that I don’t burden her and my kids too much!  We renewed our wedding vows on May 14, 2011 and my story of being a paraplegic started soon after.  My wife and I went on a cruise for our honeymoon and came home on May 21, 2011.  One week later on May 28, 2011 I lost control of my car and hit some trees.  Somewhere between the trees and the roll over of my car several times I suffered a back injury.  My back was broken in two places at T7 and T8, I suffered severe lung damage as well.  I lay on the side of the road in my wrecked car for four hours.  My wife woke in the early hours to find that I never made it home and she came to look for me!  Such a blessing!  She found me slipping in and out of conscience inside the metal heap that used to be my car.  If she had not come looking for me, I would have died in that car!  This began the long journey of emergency help then recovery.  I was taken to Southeast Alabama Medical Center in Dothan, Alabama.  I lay for nine days on a rotating bed with my only intake being IV fluids.  My lungs were so damaged that I could not have surgery to correct the fractures to my back.  In those nine days of no food I lost 35 pounds!  The first three days were spent on a ventilator.  I finally had my surgery on June 6, 2011, it was a 7 hour procedure.  Even though the doctors were able to fix the broken bones in my back, they couldn’t fix the bruising to my spinal cord.  After two rods and eight screws and a week of recovering after my surgery I went to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia.  During my stay I learned so much about how to be independent and take care of myself.  The staff and the people there were so nice and understanding.  I was discharged from the Shepherd Center on July 13, 2011.  This started my journey of caring for myself at home.  Which brings me to where I am now.  It gets hard sometimes and sometimes the depression are unavoidable.  I just continue to press my way and thank God that things are as well as they are in my life.  I have the use of my arms and hands and I didn’t suffer any brain damage and I am thankful!  Thank you for taking the time to read my story, I hope it inspires you to be thankful for the people you have in your life and to focus on the things you can do rather than the things you can’t do.