sexysteve

After being at SG for a few months I have met some really great people, so I thought I should tell you all a little more abut myself. I grew up in a small city in northern B.C. Canada there is a lot of oil and gas here so there is plenty of work.
After I finished school, my high school sweet heart and I lived together for a few years and eventually got married all the while I worked ridiculous hours. In the year 2000 we had our son Austin but our relationship wasn't doing as well anymore. 3 months after Austin was born she left me and took my son. After that I buried myself in work, but any time off I got I would spend with my son. When Austin was four I finally decided I needed a holiday, and went to Europe with two of my best friends. We had a wonderful trip though Germany etc but halfway through I had an accident.

Late one night in Rome the three of us guys and some girls snuck to the pool but when I dove in I realized I was not sure how deep it was, I tried to pull out of my dive. When I did that I somehow broke the C-6 vertebra in my neck. Luckily my friends realized I was drowning and fished me out and got me to a hospital in Rome. After 3 weeks my family brought me back to Vancouver where I was in hospital, then rehab for 6 months or so. When I left G F Strong I lived in Vancouver for a year but was getting depressed so far from my son.

At this point my family helped me find a place in my home town where my son was with his mom so I moved back. As fate would have it it's a very good thing I did as my son's mother was struggling with some issues depression etc so I took over custody of our boy. His mother and I are still friends and talk often, Austin visits her whenever he wants and we look after one another.

Since I broke my C -6 vertebra it means I'm quadriplegic which basically means all 4 limbs are affected. The further up the spine the injury the less movement your left with. With a C-6 I'm paralyzed from the chest down and a few muscles in my arms are affected. My fingers don't work but my wrists do. I'm strong enough to wrestle with my kid and some times I get the better of him lol. My body gets spastic but simple medications counter that easily enough.
There are 2 types of spinal cord damage, complete and incomplete which is how much spinal cord was damaged. With a complete injury the cord has often been severed. My accident was a strange one and for a while doctors held out hope for my complete recovery because only a small part was damaged causing an incomplete injury. I can not feel hot and cold but I feel touch every where The same as before so I think I'm quite lucky.

I'm out of time I just wanted to tell you a little about me because all the beautiful people here share so much of them selves I wanted to share a bit also.My disability doesn't define who I am and it didn't change me much execpt take away my mobility and the big muscles I had as a young adult. I find so many people never know what to say when they meet me. and some act uncomfortable, All they see at first is the chair but I'm the same guy as before only now I'm an even better father and I look shorter.

So thats a little bit about me and my injury feel free to say or ask any little thing your heart desires cheers SG I hope I didn't ramble to much

This is a pic I thought you could appreciate


This Moose was deprate for food at the end of winter and was down the street my son took a few pictures here is one.