I won't give up. I have full range of movement in my arm but the strength is only around 35%. To zip my pants with my right arm is a struggle. On the bright side I'm teaching my wife how to powder coat. I've got five sets of wheels that have to be finished. She's gonna be busy this weekend.

 

If you don't mind me asking how did you break your neck ?

 

Crap guys that's impressive. My wife's grandfather lost his left leg at 79 and his right at 81. Two prosthetics later and you can't stop the bugger. He went golfing yesterday lol.

 

a weird set of circumstances that developed into a perfect storm.
back in the good old days there was something called a smart seat.
it had a weight sensing valve on it and would self inflate or deflate to the drivers weight.
when you got out of the truck, it would deflate, sit in it and it would inflate the air bag.
i was in a 76 mack with a smart seat. i hit a very rough section of a road and got popped up out of the seat. it deflated. i landed back on the seat just when it was at it's lowest point, and sheared the valve off the lever putting 130lbs air directly into the airbag instead of slowly into it.
sorta like the videos of the guy getting launched airborn by an airbag on youtube, i was shot into the roof of the truck putting my head below my shoulders.
i ended up on the passenger side floor while the truck bounced off the right guardrail for 1/2 mile before hitting a bullnose barrier head on at around 25 mph.
i woke up in the hospital 2 weeks later paralyzed, only being able to partially move my right arm.
besides fracturing C4, C5, and C6, i also suffered cord shock when C7 compressed into T1
i now have herniated discs all over the place, and degenerative discs at T1 and L4.
plus osteoarthritis in the knees ankles and shoulders, and rheumatoid arthritis in my hands.
and i need both knees replaced, and within the next few years will probably be needing the right hip replaced too.

 

us old timers are a tough breed Nick. we will not let a simple thing like loosing a leg or two stop us!!

 

Holy chit tom. Your not kidding.

 

Damn Tom you need a overhaul

 

Foose style

 

no, what i need is someone to put me out of my misery.
but i am invincible. i have been hit by lightning once and electrocuted twice too.
back in 74 i was in a car that was hit by lightning. was deaf and blind for over a week, and suffered nerve damage. in 2000 i was sitting in a dump truck when an accident on the other side of the road snapped a pole and dropped a 36KV line across the road. it hit the back of the truck i was in 1/2 second before it hit the fence on the side of the road, blowing all the tires out on the truck and setting it on fire. that one did severe nerve damage in my arms and legs. sometimes me arms will just shoot straight out and it feels like i got hit again.
in 04 i was wiring a new 440 volt 3 phase power panel for a friends at his machine shop. the power supervisor was watching me with the linemen outside waiting for the go ahead to make the hookup at the transformers on the pole in front of the shop.
another district supervisor drove by and saw the linemen standing around and started freaking out about them milking the clock, make the hookup and go home or he would write them up blah blah blah. he did not want to hear anything from them, and made them do the hookup. as we were still in the box.
the box exploded, and both the supervisor that was inside and me were thrown across the building with him behind me cushioning my fall. he ended up with hearing loss and 4 broken ribs. i ended up in the hospital for a week from that one also. took almost 3 days to see and hear again. i now have to wear glasses, and have very bad tinnitus.

needless to say, that other guy got fired.

 

Well Tom it seems like your taking all the abuse for the rest of us. Keep up the good work

 

it's a tough job Nick, but someone has to do it!!!!





























i was shot twice, and stabbed three times when i was on the police dept before i had to leave because of the broken neck. nothing major or serious, but it still hurt like a son of a so and so.

but those people got the worse end of the deal, because i shot back and had better aim than they did..

 

The list keeps going on. Your like the energizer bunny

 

well, when you are older than dirt the list of injuries experienced can get rather long.

 

Hmm. I'm 33 and I think all I've broke is a toe and a tooth. The toe I just lived with but missing a tooth looks real funny.

 

Tom are you superman dad? Lol
And yiu haven't won the lottery yet