keith

Hi I’m Keith. In the early hours  of 26th of August 2012 I was found lying paralyzed on the floor next to my bed. I had suffered a seizure while sleeping and fell to the floor. I had broken my neck by fracturing my C4 vertebrae, which has left me to be a quadriplegic.

I have no wrist or hand movement. I have regained use of my arms from originally not being able to move  them at all. Having movement of my arms has allowed me to do certain things independently once being set up, like being functional on my laptop, brushing my teeth, drinking out a cup and using my  push button cellphone.

One thing that has changed besides the obvious is that my days need to be planned before I get out of bed. Before I could just getup and decide at the spur of the moment to go to the beach or to the movies. Doing anything now takes time and needs to be planned. My body is super heat sensitive and I need to make sure I’m dressed for comfort. I feel the slightest wind breeze on my skin, my arms and neck area’s need to be covered. Being in air conditioned places make me very uncomfortable and my body stiffens up and I eventually get muscle spasms.

With regards to seeing people out in public and those ‘awkward’ moments when people don’t know how to deal with people in wheelchairs. I think people should just ask what happened. I don’t have a problem with people asking, I know they want to know and it would break the ‘awkwardness’ for them.

There is so much more to a quadriplegic than just not being able to walk or use our hands. Our whole nervous system has been shut down and the body has different ways of reacting to different situations. I have no feeling from my chest down, so i am not able to tell if there is a problem with my body for example, a broken toe or any injury, internally or externally. So my body will let me know by twitching or perspiring.

I can go on for days but i think we should leave it there for now…

[One day we hope that Keith will share some stories about that clearly possessed dog he has on his lap]

[To follow more of Keith’s Journey, you can like his Facebook Page over here]

[For other stories of People who are Living with Disability or Special Needs, click here]