9
WHEEL WORLD NEWS
May 2018
seemed like I was falling asleep. When I got into the passenger seat the seatbelt was going across my neck with no adjustment, I remember saying, “if we got into an accident, this seatbelt is would rip my head off.” Well I went to sleep and the next thing I remember was waking up looking directly at the road through the windshield as we were flipping. The next thing I remember was waking up in a hospital. I died twice that day, once at the scene and once in the ambulance. They took her by helicopter to a larger hospital because she had a better chance of living and they took me to a smaller local hospital expecting that I wouldn't make it through the night. I was thrown the length of a football field and landed on my shoulders and compressed
everything until there was nothing more my body could do and there was more compressing to be done. My 12th vertebrae shattered and a bone fragment went through my spinal cord.
When my injury first happened, I faced some challenges. I thought my life was over because here, I was a ranked athlete and one of the best in the world and now all of sudden I can't walk... After about week of not wanting to do anything, I was shown a magazine called Sports & Spokes. I saw wheelchair racers and decided at that moment that I was going to be in that magazine. I have been in it about a dozen times now... Less than a year after my accident, I was a nationally ranked track racer and made the US Sled Hockey team. I have never looked back! Some things changed of course but mostly my life did not change at all. I still did the same stuff, have great adventures and have done some amazing things. The way I do things is a little different but the end result is the same. Sometimes I have to allow a little extra time for somethings but that is life for everyone.
The biggest piece of advice I would give to someone that is new to a spinal cord injury or anything like that is to seek out a support group or mentor group. Make a friend, and realize that you are only held back by your mind. The way things are done might be slightly different but if you are doing it, does it matter?
-Corbin Beu