Bobsledding update!

Bobsled update!!


     I know I haven't blogged to update you in a while cause I've had to make some decisions about my continuation of the bobsled experience. First of all I have to thank Matt Bailey and Dave Nichols for giving me the chance to try something I never thought I would ever do! It was amazing exhilarating and nerve wracking all bundled up in one!! Dave Nichols is an amazing bobsled driver and I really feel that bobsledding will go into the 2018 Paralympics by all that he is doing to get it included. Our competition in Park City showed we can be competitive, safe, and showed the world we can do it. With that being said I have decided that I cannot continue with the bobsled team due to the fact that there would be a lot of travel needed, time to practice, time needed to take of from work, not to include the costs to travel and hotel stay and entry fees. Yes we can get sponsors but I have been down that road before on asking for sponsorship for my bowling. Its not an easy task and frankly I just don't have it in me to ask friends and family to help me pursue this dream. Cause this is not my dream. I know I know I will hear a lot of you tell me I'm crazy for not going after it after coming in first at Park City but its a spot I would be taking where someone else, (younger with not to many responsibilities), could be, and be able to practice for the 2018 Olympics. It was an honor to be able to compete in a bobsled as a pilot and believe me I have a lot of respect for the Olympic bobsledders with the G forces they must endure. But I have the most respect for Dave Nichols who is an incomplete quadriplegic for his ability to pilot the sled from the top of the track! I know I have blogged before with a blog similar to this one but I had not fully decided that I was not going to do it anymore. It was fun, I did it, I did good, I can't believe I won, but its not what I want to pursue anymore. Thanks for all the support you all have given me on this journey and all the very kind and inspirational comments you have said. It was an experience I will never forget!!!!
    Switching gears in bowling this week I got beat again by the Grantman as I bowled 147 124 103 for a 374 to his 154 118 164 for a 436! See maybe I just need to concentrate on one sport and keep my head in the game!! Thanks for reading my blog and tell your friends to follow me!! Later gang!!!

Anniversary

 

 

Yep still going after 24!!!!

 

 

        Feb. 4th 1990, 24 years ago, my life changed forever! Yep gang the 4th of February will always bring sadness and joy. If you have become disabled we all long to become, back to normal, so to speak, or gain what we had lost in abilities, but sometimes that's not in the cards for us. Now who's to say that a miraculous cure might come along like we see in the movies all the time, but until that happens you must live with what you got. Yeah the 4th brings out a lot of emotions for me, not for what I lost all the time, but mostly for what I gained. You see I died and somehow I was able to be resuscitated and able to live the life I have. People ask me if I could change it all would I, well I would love to be able to walk again, love to be able hold hands with my wife and walk down the beach, I would love to be able to make love to her spontaneously and feel our passions unfold, and I would love to be able to go to the bathroom like a normal person. But if it meant that I would have to give up what I have, I would go through all the pain again to be able to still call Vickie my wife. I would not want to miss a day of Shantel's or Alex's life and I wouldn't have had the thrill of welcoming my granddaughter Lily Anna into our lives. For all those I have helped through my job at UCAT with the Department of Rehabilitation, evaluating equipment for them to help them become more independent and possibly return to work, none of that would be possible if I changed it all. And to all the friends I have met since being in a wheelchair, disabled and abled bodied, that I would have not met if it was not for my wheelchair. So would I change it all if I could, I guess the answer is no if I would lose all that I have now. I feel I am so blessed now with my family, career, bowling, and if you have been following my blog, Bobsledding Now!!! So you see it is a tough time when the 4th of February comes around each year but as long as I think of all the gifts I have been given since being in the wheelchair and know that it was the hand of God that saved me to be able help as many as I can here on earth, then no I wouldn't change a thing and risk losing all that I have. I think next year might be tough if I look at it the wrong way, you see it will be 25 years of being disabled. I was injured when I was 25 so that will mean I have lived half of my life not in a wheelchair and the other half in. But if I look at it this way, that I was given a second chance at life and I have outlived my prior life then I think I will be ok with that thought and being thankful for all I have. Thank you for being my friend gang!!