“IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE YOUR WHOLE WORLD CAN CHANGE…”
A little over a year ago I had a very strange backyard accident – a 100 pound tree limb fell directly on my head. Although I never lost consciousness , I was bleeding profusely, which later required 18 staples to close a 6-inch gash to the head when taken to our local hospital
Hours and multiple head and neck CAT scans and x-rays later, it was determined that I had suffered a broken neck at the C4 and C5 vertebrae and that my neck was out of alignment. I was told that h ad the tree hit a mere centimetre off in any direction, I would have been paralyzed. In fact, over the ensuing days, I was constantly being evaluated for any potential loss of sensation.
The following morning, a surgical halo was screwed into my head at four locations. For two days I lay flat, in traction, to realign my neck. Three days later surgery was performed on my neck. This procedure required a bone graft from my hip, and a plate to fuse to my neck and the inserted bone graft, held by 4 titanium screws. The halo was removed during surgery, and I spent the next several months in a neck brace.
Mere words cannot begin to express my appreciation for the efforts of my surgeon, Dr. Rajiv Midha, and his resident who assisted in my operation. These are some of the finest individuals I have ever had the good fortune to meet. They assured me of a very positive outcome through their confidence, competence and general caring manner. The incredible nurses of the ICU cared for me with outstanding compassion, sensitivity and thoughtfulness. Never before had I required admission to a hospital – let alone an Intensive Care Unit. These wonderful individuals ensured that a very difficult situation was, at the very least, tolerable.
It has now been a year since my accident. I was lucky. Many are not. Other than a loss of 15% neck mobility, I was able to walk away with nothing more than a scar on my hip and neck and plate attached to my vertebrae. But I will never forget the incredible doctors and nurses of Sunnybrook who made me whole again. They are fantastic people – each any every one of them and I am at a loss as to how to thank them and Sunnybrook.
This accident taught me lessons I would not have learnt were it not for this experience. I gained a perspective on life, family, God, taking every day as if it were my last, treating every moment preciously. Even with a halo screwed to my head, I was able to walk around the Intensive Care Unit. I saw a young women in a coma after having attempted suicide by jumping from a 12 th floor balcony and a promising teenage hockey player who was ‘swarmed’ and beaten by a group of thugs and now clung to life. I was lucky and will never lose sight of that fact or take those things which are important to me for granted.
When this accident occurred, I had being preparing for what would have been my 4 th marathon – the October, 2003 Toronto Marathon. After many years’ hiatus, running and fitness had once again become my passion. I lost 70 pounds and found a new way of life.
The bone-graft prevented me from running for the first time in 3 years. It had been rare when a week passed where I missed more than 1 or 2 days of training. Now, I could barely walk. It took a week before I was able to walk a block and several more until I could manage 3 or 4 kilometres. Weeks earlier, a 20km training run was routine.
Without a doubt, it was the ‘marathoner’s mentality’ which kept me sane and pushed me day after day throughout the summer. I walked and sweated in a neck brace, driven by the desire to get back to running and really feel ‘whole’ again. I ‘had to’ run my next marathon within a year of the accident.
On Sunday, May 16, 2004, I finished the Mississauga Marathon in a personal best, by 12 minutes, of 3:59:33, with the incredible assistance of a Running Room pace ‘bunny’. Approaching the finish line, knowing I would finally break 4 hours, I had a feeling of joy and accomplishment and realization of what I had been through over the past year, as never before. I will admit that I even cried over those last 100 metres – not from pain, but from utter elation and success.
This past October, on a horrendously cold, windy and rainy day, I lowered my personal best by another 10 minutes to finish in 3:49:10. As I now consider the next challenge in front of me – this May’s Ottawa National Capital Marathon, I know, with certainty that I will succeed. In fact, I will win. No, I won’t be the one crossing the finish line first, but I will win nonetheless. I won the day I said to myself that a mere broken neck would not keep me down.
Today, I run for different reasons. To be sure, it is still fun a great workout and means to stay fit. Running will forevermore be part of my life and I am convinced that had I not made the commitment to make fitness and proper nutrition and thereby a new lifestyle and loss of 60 pounds, I would not have survived the accident.
I run because it is a daily reaffirmation that I am able to put one foot in front of the other over 5, 10 or 20 kilometres. Today I run because, in part, it is my way of thanking God each and every day that I did not end up in a wheelchair or worse. Today I run in to thank the absolutely incredible people of Sunnybrook and Women’s Health Sciences Centre. They did far more than their ‘jobs’. Mere words cannot begin to express my appreciation for the efforts of my surgeon, Dr. Rajiv Midha, and his resident Dr. Nicolas Phan who assisted in my operation. These are some of the finest individuals I have ever had the good fortune to meet. From the outset, they assured me of a very positive outcome through their confidence, competence and general caring manner. The incredible nursing staff of the Neurosurgery Intensive Care Unit cared for me with outstanding compassion, sensitivity and thoughtfulness. Never before had I required admission to a hospital – let alone an Intensive Care Unit. These wonderful individuals ensured that a very difficult situation was, at the very least, tolerable.
Today I run because I hope people are aware of the significant strides being made into head and spine injuries, and the absolutely incredible importance of stem cell research for those Supermen, like Christopher Reeve, not as lucky as me.
Today I run because many cannot.
Today I run because I can.
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