Whilst masticating on , Douglas Anderson (1:3632/72.2@fidonet)
wrote to Alan Hess:
DA> C'mon now, Alan.  Reggie Brown's story _is_ inspirational.  Just 
DA> because you don't find it so doesn't mean that others won't.
What's inspiring about it?  He was seriously injured, almost paralyzed, but 
was damn lucky and escaped both death and paralysis.  What type of 
inspiration can one take from that?  Another person who breaks his neck may 
not be as lucky, no matter how often he thinks of Reggie Brown and Reggie's 
recovery.  Does that make the other person a worse person who wasn't worthy 
of recovering?  Mark Buoniconti broke his neck playing football, and remains 
paralyzed, though I'm sure early on following his injury he was told about 
all sorts of inspirational people like Reggie Brown.
I've lived through crap like that since I broke my neck 17 years ago.  People 
will say things like, "This person broke their neck at the same place you 
did, and he's back to normal now," or "Look at this guy - he's a quadriplegic 
just like you, and he does this and that and this."  We're all individuals, 
and our injuries and subsequent abilities are all individual - if the spinal 
cord suffers enough damage, no amount of "inspiration" or stories of people 
who were lucky enough to avoid paralysis will make the injury victim recover. 
 The stories may well make the paralyzed victim feel worse about himself 
because he apparently didn't "deserve" to recover the way the individuals in 
the stories did, or make the victim feel that he's not a "good" quadriplegic 
because he is unable to do what the quads in the stories do.  SCI victims ALL 
believe we'll recover after we're told we're permanently paralyzed - the 
overwhelming majority don't recover.  We non-recoverers are no worse or 
better than the lucky folks who do recover.
When I was at rehab, there was a guy there who had broken C-1 and C-2.  He 
"died" twice (heart stopped), and was brought back (I only came close to 
death once - when I finally blacked out under water after the accident and 
stopped breathing.  CPR restarted my breathing after I was finally hauled out 
of the water.  My heart never stopped.)  Anyway, this guy wound up making a 
near full recovery - he was walking around the rehab center in his halo vest 
(just like Reggie Brown), while I and most of the other quadriplegic patients 
were wearing our vests in wheelchairs.  He walked out of rehab - we rolled.  
He was damn lucky, and knew it.  Inspiring?  No - there was nothing we could 
do to be like him, as much as we wanted to be, and as much pain and effort we 
went through in rehab.  
An inspiring person is one who makes a choice to do something brave or 
difficult when he has the option to do otherwise.  Good luck is not 
inspirational.  Living as a quad is not inspirational, since there's no other 
choice besides suicide - a quadriplegic can't choose to not be a quad and 
still be alive.  *adh*
--- Msged/2 4.10
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