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Blog Latest Comments
Wonderful piece.
by Gerthro on Wednesday, 01 September 2010
Hello WQ, Fabulous and very personal contribution about the challenges we faces every day. I'm a C5, C6, C7 "Walking Q...
by Pelle on Tuesday, 31 August 2010
Hello WQ My name is Joe and I too am a walking quad. I also have a central cord syndrome that I sustained on 9/11/84 w...
by Joe on Tuesday, 31 August 2010
Thank you for letting me into your world, a little. The more I understand, the better person I am, and the more I under...
by Kimberly1 on Saturday, 21 August 2010
Your post is so right on! I love the analogy of the snowflake. Until my personal experience with SCI, I was clueless a...
by ratherbflyin on Tuesday, 17 August 2010
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In The Beginning
Posted by: Walking Quad
Friday, 23 July 2010
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Anyone who knows me very well, knows that cheesecake is my first dessert of choice. Not just any type, it has to be New York style cheesecake. Hard to believe that a simple but delicious piece of cheesecake could cause a spinal cord injury. It was my 33rd birthday and a small gathering of friends met at my best friend Stephanie’s house to celebrate over brunch and to chat, eat, drink and be merry. The highlight of the meal was a New York style cheesecake with a turtle topping—it was decadent. Even better, I was sent home with what remained of the cheesecake. The temptation of a second piece was simply too hard to resist so I went to get a late night snack. In the process of getting a plate, I took a seemingly benign fall on the kitchen floor, landing hard on the metal strip. As I tell everyone who looks at me with a perplexed expression—no I was not intoxicated. I simply fell less than 5 feet, landed perfectly and became an incomplete paraplegic.

Funny thing about spinal cord injury (SCI), it can happen to anyone, any time, any where. I drew a lucky card, I had a congenital spinal cord injury defect, totally unknown to me that resulted in a more complicated injury. Add the facts that I did not seek immediate care, I was uninsured and in big time denial, and you have the perfect recipe for paralysis. Diagnosis: T-12/ L1 contusion injury.

I was luckier than most, I spent 3 years using a manual chair and eventually was able to walk with platform crutches. The sage medical advice I received was, “You can walk, what more do you want?” I left that medical appointment and did not return to see a physiatrist for almost 11 years. I considered myself lucky and moved on with my life. I had married, finished graduate school, had two sons and life was good. Why see a doctor?

Fourteen years after my initial injury, reality came to roost again. I began losing function and could simply no longer deny what was going on. Walking became harder, my hands and arms didn’t want to work and I always seemed to be falling. I sucked it up and saw one of the best SCI doctors on the East coast. My ASIA scores showed that I was a quadriplegic with central cord syndrome but what was the cause? After many battles with my insurance company, tests were finally completed that showed spinal cord compression at C3/4 secondary to my initial spinal cord injury due to my walking.

Last week I celebrated my birthday along with the 20th anniversary of my SCI. Yes, I did say celebrate! Despite continued loss of function, Life Is Good. I have a job, a family and for the time being, I am still walking. I was injured the year and the month the ADA was signed into law and I have seen many changes. I have been fortunate to work in the disability community, met many great folks, including Christopher and Dana Reeve. I have learned a lot along the way and hope to share some of what I have learned thru my blog. I hope you will join me on this next phase of my journey.

Thanks, WQ
Categories:  New SCI
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It is quite refreshing to hear the story of a walking quad of which I am one. I have a h of time finding medical doctors that will treat me as an incomplete SCI as serious as a complete. i walk therfore what the --is the big deal. Or I get the quasi "your aren't going to get better anyway' treatment. maybe i am just paranoid, but the no mans land of being an incomplete is very real. Keep up the fight!
by dan  Sunday, 01 August 2010
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Oh, I want to hear more on this subject of no mans land. I have suspected for some time that we, the disabled club, have a hierarchy sprinkled with conflicting hypocritical prejudice (CHP). Reflect on my own CHP when first joining the club, I met a man with CP that used a board to spell out what he wanted to communicate with me, I sat there thinking ( my face reddens and I am grateful for this admission) "OMG I am so not like that, so disabled, ugh" He became one my closest dearest friends teaching me, of which I am so grateful for, that we are human beings, we are connected and we are in this together so be kind, look past the disability. I look forward to all your posts. in joy Candace
by Candace  Sunday, 01 August 2010
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Thanks Walking Quad, it's good to get these anomalies out in the open. Looking forward to your next installation. Agree with MadDog, that expanding on what it's like to live with an incomplete injury, would be a great topic.
by Matt  Sunday, 01 August 2010
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MadDog~ I think I might have just stumbled onto my next blog topic. Indeed, folks often think I have a sprained ankle and children ask how I broke my arm because of the platform crutch. I have had many a long hard glare while parked in a disabled spot, until someone sees me tryin to get out of my car or they see my crutch. I don't expect courtesy and consideration just because of my disability--I think it should be given to everyone, able bodied, folks with disabilities, the elderly, etc. What I do find as a walking quad is that I am in no mans land. Not able bodied but at the same time, not viewed as disabled by some of the complete quads I know. No mans land is lonely--so I thought the blog would be a way to reach others as well as shed some light on the world of a Walking Quad.
by Walking Quad  Wednesday, 28 July 2010
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Well all right, W.Q. Here's a question. You have a disability, a pretty gnarly bit of spinal cord trauma. But since you walk, albeit with some hardware, does that lead to situations where you are not considered to have a disability and therefore don't get the civility and consideration you deserve, and that you may require? Looking forward to your posts. I'm hoping the Reeve Community will finally engage with each other. Mad
by maddogz  Tuesday, 27 July 2010