[Overpaid Slacker]

Tech -
May 15, 2003. Dark. Raining softly after 3 hours of downpour. Going home. Uphill, with a medium lefthand sweeper at the top; my driveway is just after "turn in" on the outside of the bend.

Carrying about 40 mph up the hill and pull a double-clutch downshift to slow down for the driveway ... except for my right foot slipping off the brake and hitting the gas just as I'm letting the clutch out. This happens at about 3100 rpm, and the afterburners come on (this car was FAAAAST). So Newton takes over and I rocket through the apex of the turn. The car was launched by the sloped curb, hitting a tree 20 feet away from the road about 3 feet up the trunk.

It's technically accurate to say I walked away from the wreck, though I can't tell you how I got out through my side of the car -- that's as far as the door opens. I'd cut my forehead and shin open but otherwise felt fine. Which is to say as "fine" as you can feel after a sudden deceleration incident of that ferocity.

Notwithstanding how "fine" I felt, upon advice and counsel of the shortly-thereafter-arriving EMTs I took a ride to the hospital with them. Good thing.

I was unaware I'd fractured my cervical spine pretty expertly for a first-timer (compression teardrop fracture of C6 for the docs on board). So, long story short, 3 months in a halo and 4 weeks in a hardcollar later I was pronounced 100% "Go forth and breakdance" healed.

What saved my life was the sloped curb, actually. The launch caused the car hit the tree "nose up". The car climbed the tree a bit, diverting some of the force of the impact. You can see from the pix that most of the damage is bumper and under/back just inside the driver's headlight. The hood isn't really damaged that much, considering. Had I hit the tree straight-and-level, I'da been wormfood. The entire driver's side footwell was pressed up against the front of my seat. I don't know how my legs weren't pulped.

My brother is an emergency doctor and his training and teaching is ongoing. He took my films (xray, CAT and MRI), showed them to 20 board-certified neurologists and spine doctors at a recent conference and asked for a diagnosis (he'd given them the basics -- male, 30 yo, car crash, etc.). 16 immediately said "quadriplegic" 3 said "paraplegic" and one said "not enough information to determine, but it's bad news." Turns out that more than 95% of people with this injury are quads; period.

My bro said "Actually, patient "X" is my brother and right now he's on a sailboat racing around Block Island. No neurological deficit. He's still a moron, mind you, but no neurological deficit as a result of the accident." He likes telling that story; especially the last part.

JP