Introduction

Our story begins almost 12 years ago when we met as freshmen in high school. Brad and I began dating in October of 2000 and have come so far since then. We have been married for 4 years this month and have 2 Yorkies, Ally and Charlie. In December Brad finished 7 licensure exams for architecture and I completed my master's degree in elementary education. Our lives changed forever on Thursday, January 12, 2012. 
My husband was on his way to work, just like every other day, when he hit a patch of gravel on his motorcycle. Brad had to straighten the bike out and ended up riding down an embankment. Simply by the way he landed he suffered a T6 (middle of his chest) complete spinal cord injury (SCI). Although this was the injury that would change things forever he also suffered a C6 fracture, nerve damage to his left shoulder, as well as cracked ribs. 


Friday he underwent a forever long surgery to stabilize his spine. While in surgery he had to have quite a bit of blood transfusions and for the next 7 days he was  in the NSICU. Every day our families would wait in the hallway hoping and praying that he would wake up that day. 


Finally one morning he wrote my name down on a sheet of paper for the nurse; he was asking for me! I was on the way to the hospital with my mom when I got the call. We rushed to the hospital and I literally ran all the way to his room. At this point all he could do was write things down because the ventilator tube was very limiting. We conversed this way for a day or so before he finally asked me, through writing on a dry erase board, if he would ever get his feeling back. This is when I finally had to tell him the extent of his injury. This was extremely hard to do; I felt, at the moment, just as paralyzed as he did. Then he told me that this didn't change anything for him (life, kids, etc.). 


After leaving the NSICU he spent 2 days in a regular hospital room before moving to the Methodist Rehabilitation Center where we would spend the next 8 weeks. While in rehab I had the thought a few times that creating a blog would be a source of therapy for me, while also keeping friends and family members updated. Once at home I had a friend suggest the idea to me and now, here we are. The upcoming posts may be out of chronological order, but I just wanted to share our story with others as the memories come back to us.