John's Back
>>On a BASE jump on October 31st, 2004 John impacted a concrete roof just as his canopy hit line stretch (Those last 10 days of Oct. really sucked). He smashed every bone in his feet, broke both ankles, shattered every L & T verterbrae, had 4 blown discs, had two titanium rods fused into his spine, a fractured hip, and had seven feet of crushed intestines removed. He has some partial paralysis. He almost died on the operating table, almost died from renal failure in post-op, had another surgery. Alomst died again from a blood infection. When he woke up the first thing he heard was the doctors arguing whether he'd a para or a quad. They told him he'd never walk again.
>>Today, 7 months and twelve hours since the accident, not only is he walking, he made his 58th BASE jump from a local A. I remember seeing him in the hospital when he was on the resperator, flying out to visit him when he learned to transfer into the wheelchair, taking him to pool after work to help him learn to walk again, watching him stand on his own and use the crutches, and when he took his first steps unassisted. Now the full cycle of recovery is complete...I have to say it's one of the more remarkable things I've seen in my life. The BASE fire burns hot in his belly. It's what he lived for, died for, and came back to life for.
