"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable." Christopher Reeve
Six years ago, when I was 52, I found myself in a Boston hospital's emergency room. "If you leave here, you could quickly become a quadriplegic," the neurologist said. "I've been looking at your MRI and CAT scan," the kind doctor said. "We need to admit you."
For no reason that 4 neurologists could explain, 2 vertebrae in my neck had suddenly disengaged and literally overnight, began a direct route on their way to severing my spinal cord completely. "Even after surgery," the doctor said gently, "there's still a 50% chance you'll never walk again."
I was quoted in a magazine, "If anyone says ‘something good has come from this, "I'll strangle them." I meant it then. But not now.
Recently, for the first time since that dreadful day, I simply went out back, put my cane down, and started walking. I made it 42 yards.
Today I walked 5 miles.
My medical team had said this would be impossible. My brain could no longer send the signals for walking because those nerves in my spinal cord had been destroyed. Though certainly unintentional, my doctors did take something very important away from me: hope.
A while back, a psychologist pal of mine urged me to try to help myself. I was angry. I said, "They're 4 of Boston's leading neurologists. They all said I'd never get any better."
"They could have all been wrong."
"They said there's nothing I can do! No rehabilitation. No physical therapy. I'm not putting any effort into trying to walk and then be miserable when I fail."
"Trying is never failure."
I'd get steaming mad at people like her. What did they know? They came out in droves. I heard various things I should try: a soy-based diet, massage, yoga, acupuncture, positive thinking. All of these well-meaning non-experts believed that traditional medical doctors do not know everything about human potential.
However, there was a common denominator in my friends' advice. And that was the word, "Try."
What made me finally try? The answer is simpler than I’d have ever imagined. That day I tried walking on my own, I had simply said to myself, "Why not?"
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