For this week's post, I decided to learn more about spinal cord injuries through the article titled " A Meaningful Life". This piece is written by a man named Francesco Clark, who suffered a spinal cord injury in the summer of 2002. As he recalls the past 14 years of his life (the time since the injury when the article was written) it is revealed that the accident occurred when diving into a pool. Francesco Clark's life was going just as he had always planned and then within a second, this was stripped away as he drifted through the water with memories from the past twenty-four years playing on rewind in his head.
Flash forward to 2016, when this post was originally published, and Francesco is now a business owner who finds his purpose throughout his work. I choose this article because of how willing Francesco was to accept his new life, no matter the limitations, and find ways to continue to defy the odds of his injury. For example, when he was first admitted to the hospital he was told by his surgeon he would likely not survive- which seems to be a common occurrence for people with spinal cord injuries. This particular part of the story reminded me of the importance of holistic practitioners, such as OTs, that fight for their clients and equip them with the information and skills needed to be able to overcome even the severest of injuries. While Francesco's function has not completely returned in his hands, it is not revealed where exactly the trauma took place on his spinal cord, or if it was a complete or incomplete injury, but throughout the article, the progress he has made leads me to believe that he will continue to regain function throughout time.
I recommend Francesco Clark's story to any and all practitioners because of his attitude towards the adversities he has faced from what was supposed to be a simple dive into a pool. His belief is that " Not everything happens for a reason: I really do believe that sometimes you just fall....And, while I've been physically changed, I know that I'm the same person with the same values and personality at my core" (Clark, 2017). Many people who experience injuries of this nature believe that there was some deeper or higher meaning behind it, but Francesco simply believes that sometimes there really is no reason why life-changing events happen; they just do. This article helped me to realize that there doesn't always have to be an ulterior motive behind everything that can go wrong, but what matters is how you adapt to the challenges and overcome them.
Clark, F. (2017, June 4). A meaningful life. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-meaningful-life_b_10281396
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