It was July 9th, 2007. The beginning of my work week, and as always
I was happy to be at work. I can say in all honesty this was the best job I had ever had. I liked the work I did. I had a
great boss. I liked the guys I worked with, and I made a decent wage. I had been with this company for just over 3 months.
My job included many responsibilities. I was a welder & the company I worked for erected prefabricated cement
structures. As each piece of the prefabbed cement panels were put into place by a crane, they were shimmed to level them out,
then the rigging from the crane was removed and the pieces were secured via welding the built in metal plates. The job we
were working on currently was being done on Ft. Carson Army base in Colorado. We were putting up structures to accommodate
troops coming to our base from Fort Hood, Texas. We had one structure in place, and were working on the second this day.
Today, like every other day, I called my wife during my lunch break. today, she was at home, when normally she'd
have been at work as well, except I had accidentally taken her only set of car keys with me to work. So today she was home.
We talked for a bit, then back off to work I went. We hung up at about 12:40 PM.
I went up in the man lift, about
35 feet up, to put some shims into place to level a roof panel we were installing. I placed the shims, began my decent in
the man lift, and that's the last thing I remember. (Until I woke up several weeks later.)
At about 1:10
PM my wife received a telephone call telling her I was being transported to the hospital via flight for life. Imagine getting
a call like that. No other information available to her, other than I was involved in an accident at work, when the structure
I was working on collapsed. Imagine then, that I had the only set of keys to her vehicle, in my truck at work. Thankfully,
my bosses wife was able to pick her up and get her to the hospital in record time.
En route to the hospital, my
wife called the hospital twice for an update and any information they could give her. Hesitantly, the nurse on the other end
of the line told her that she should get there as quickly as possible. They would not tell her more than that at the time.
Being an LPN, she immediately asked about my vital signs. They told her my blood pressure was 54/32. She knew then that I
was at deaths door. When she arrived, they were preparing to rush me into emergency surgery. At this point they
point blank told her they doubted I'd survive, but they'd do the very best they could. She requested a brief
moment with me prior to them taking me to surgery. Reluctantly, that granted her that. When she came into the room, they had
almost every inch of me draped in towels and sheets. There was a thick blood saturated towel laying over my eyes. She could
see blood trails both fresh and dried all over the little she could see of my face. And from under the edge of the towel,
she could see my left eyeball, resting on my cheek. She kissed me and told me how much she loved me. She told me she
wouldn't stay here without me, so I had to pull through. Then off I went for a marathon surgery.
To date, I
have been through 14 surgeries, I have been in physical therapy for 10 months, and I am working with Voc Rehab to re-gain
my independence. I am trying to learn to function in this world, with no vision what-so-ever. I live in total darkness after
44 years of being sighted, and its the hardest thing I've ever been through in my life. I can't see my wife, children, grandchildren
or any of the other special people in my life.
It truly feels as if I am trapped within myself. A hostage to fate.
I used to be so active...so happy in life. I fixed our vehicles when they broke down, fixed the things around the house that
needed repaired. I was the guy at work who was always whistling or singing, all day long. That's how happy I was. The
guys at work used to ask me "what are you singing today, Paul?" Then smile with a shake of their head, and go on
about their day. I remember when I believed I was the happiest guy I knew, so fortunate and blessed. I still know how blessed
I am to even be alive, but unfortunately I am not the happy go lucky man I once was. I do have "moments" of joy,
but I must honestly say, I am not the man I used to be, at least not as far as I am concerned. I now feel quite helpless,
really. I am beginning to learn to live & function in a pitch black world, but it isn't easy, nor is it pleasant.
I try, I truly do try to be optimistic. There are a few things in the works as far as science goes, that
may offer me the opportunity to have vision again someday. That is the day I so look forward to. My challenge now is not only
to learn to have a full life until that day, but to raise the funds I'll need, so that when that day arrives, I can be
a beneficiary of the precious gift of sight. This is my mission. This is my quest!
