Category — Life

It was a beautiful Spring day in 1986; I was camping out at Geneva Hills in Southern Ohio and had decided to take a morning walk.  I was 26 at the time, a junior in the college of education at OSU, studying to be an English teacher.  I was fiercely independent, determined to change my little part of the world, possibly teach English in Africa with the Peace Corps.

When I think about my accident that morning, I marvel at how 10 seconds of a persons life, a split decision to wander off the trail and up the hill can change the future forever.  It’s not often with regret that I reminisce, but with amazement and disbelief.  Did that really happen to me?  it was so long ago and the consequences are so ordinary now, it’s hard to fathom that once upon a time my accident was unreal and felt like the end of my life.

Rachel Widomski’s story is very unlike mine, but the consequences are similar.  Unlike me, she was the victim of a brutal attack and as the result has a spinal cord injury and will be paralyzed for life.  Our community is rallying around her, much as they did for me when I had my accident.  It’s wonderful that we humans have such a large capacity for giving when crisis calls, Rachel and her family will need all of the emotional and financial support (and more) they can get to make it through these next few months.

It’s easy to rally around in the time of tragedy, but even more important to stick around for the long haul.  For more information about Rachel and how to help HaikuHelp