Father of Three Paralyzed in Building Explosion, Rehabilitated at NeuLife
While working on the second floor at a prison facility there was an explosion and Chris suddenly found himself rocketed into the ceiling above and then plummeting through the floor into a flooded basement below. The building where Chris worked had partially collapsed due to a natural gas explosion. Chris sustained serious, life threatening injuries and was in the hospital for eight weeks.
Chris recalls, “out of nowhere, I felt something hit me in the back of the head with tremendous force, harder than I’ve ever been hit in my life. Then everything went black and I realized I was under water.”
Though he made it out alive, Chris suffered multiple traumas from the impact of the fall and from the crumbling building cement and debris. The most severe of his traumas was a T11-T12 spinal cord injury resulting in paralysis and paraplegia. Chris knew he had a long road ahead.
Two Months After the Accident, Chris was transferred to NeuLife
Arriving at NeuLife as a paraplegic, Chris struggled with numerous physical limitations, a highly unstable core, pain, emotional changes and mild cognitive deficits. He also required wound care, catheterization and a bowel program regimen. Significant upper body injuries and rib fractures also created extreme challenges due to spinal cord injury.
“In order to achieve the highest level of independence possible, Chris needed the healing and strength that the environment of NeuLife could provide.” – Donna Check, Executive Director
Chris participated in daily therapies at NeuLife with the same spirit of positivity that he once brought to his job, resulting in great progress toward his goals.
His motivation along with NeuLife’s caring staff helped him to drastically improve his core stability and upper body strength in physical and occupational therapy. Cognitive therapy helped Chris learn new techniques that are allowing him adjust to what he calls his new life.
The Injury and Challenges Diagnoses at a Level 1 trauma center included:
- T7-T12 with spinal cord injury paralysis
- Paraplegia
- C7 transverse fracture
- Bilateral scapula fractures
- Left clavicle and bilateral rib fractures
- Pulmonary contusions
- Significant blood loss
- Acute Respiratory Failure
- Consumptive coagulopathy
- Blunt aortic injury
- Closed fractures of thoracic spine, scapula and pelvis
- Laminectomy Thoracic Fusion/Thoracotomy for T12 corpectomy, T11-L2 anterior fixation and fusion
- Records indicated prolonged resuscitation and multiple transfusions
Positive Outcomes
Just five months after the accident, Chris was discharged from NeuLife. He drove himself home to his family and independence in his new Permobil wheelchair fitted into his brand new wheelchair-accessible van.
