Yesterday Jared and I met Kathleen for coffee. We were introduced to her through someone Jared works with at Microsoft. Kathleen was in a horrible car accident in 1980 and was paralyzed from the waste down during the accident. At the time she was 20 years old and had an 18 month old baby. She is now walking with braces on her calves. It was so wonderful to meet her and talk to someone who actually understands everything that I am going through right now. I know people can imagine how it must feel, but she really gets it.
Kathleen spent 6 months in the hospital before leaving in a wheelchair. While she was in the hospital the doctors told her family she would never walk again. Around the 3rd month after her injury she was able to move one toe. By the 9th month after her injury the doctors had changed their minds, and that's when she was told that she would walk again one day. It has been a very slow process for her. It was encouraging to hear that she saw gains even last year, almost 30 years after her injury. The doctors told her the same thing they told me - after one year they would not expect to see any more changes. And here she is, continuing to improve 30 years later. It felt so good for me to talk with this lady, to hear about her story and her recovery. It gives me so much hope to know that she walked again after the doctors said she wouldn't.
The doctors won't say either way as far as my prognosis goes. But I know that I will walk again, whether they say I will or not. The hard part is learning to be patient and learning how to do the things I love while I am in this chair still. Today was hard, as I want so badly to work out in my yard, but at this point that's something I'm not able to do. I will be so excited to get back out there one day soon.
Thank you, Kathleen.
2 comments:
I'm so glad you got that chance to talk to her! What a great thing not only for you...but also for her...you probably helped her in ways that you don't even know! ~Kari
Hi Beca, I had a spinal cord tumor too, inside the spinal sac and inside the cord itself. I was told after one year that I was as good as I would get and 4 years later I am still improving by leaps and bounds. My family was just here in the TriCities visiting and could not believe how much I have improved since they were here in January! Continue to hope and pray and most of all HAVE FAITH! I will continue to pray for you as our Lord leads... Sheila
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