Summaries

Synopsis

On October 16, 2015, Paul Basagoitia, a world class freeride mountain biker, prepares for an event that will change his life. A chorus of survivors of spinal cord injuries narrate the circumstances they received their particular paralyzing injury. Paul begins his run with great skill but flips his bike and falls hard on a rocky ledge. He immediately complains he cannot move his feet. He is flown by helicopter to the hospital.On Day 1, Doctors review Paul's x-rays to determine a plan of action. The survivors discuss their emotional reaction to the first day and how they are told they are never going to walk again or have very little chance of walking again. Paul and girlfriend Nichole Munk hear potentially devastating news about Paul's valve and bladder function, his sexual function and the challenge he will have to ever walk again.On Day 4, Paul struggles to speak, but thanks those who support him. This is the first day since the accident the physical therapist get him to sit upright in a chair. They remove some stitches from his back. Paul resolves to be a guiding light to others. Various injury survivors discuss how they found out about spine and neck injuries under what situations one moves from paraplegic to quadriplegic.Paul must insert a catheter to urinate and needs help bathing. His girlfriend has slept on a cot in the corner of his hospital room for two weeks. Survivors describe the humbling experience of needing help with the being in a wheelchair and performing the basic activities of life. At some point reality sets in and many survivors experience a desire to end their life.On Day 14, Paul leaves the Intensive Care Unit. He raises himself up standing between a set of parallel bars. Those with spinal cord injuries makes the most progress within the first two years after their injury to become the best they can become in their new situation.Paul Basagoitia started riding a two-wheel bicycle at age 2 and it became his life. After he got his first BMX bike, he dedicated himself to training, getting results in racing events and became the top ranked BMX biker in his age group in the world at age 10. Paul is emotional on the first day he has been able to get out of bed by himself.On Day 21. Paul transfers to Craig Hospital, an inpatient rehabilitation center in Englewood, Colorado. The first day there, he can stand on his own. Paul anticipates making lots of progress and hopefully walking out of the place. No two spinal cord injuries are the same. People react differently to every injury. The snowflake simile is used for comparison. A car is in a garage that is used for transfer training from the wheelchair. Much of the occupation therapy is done at the wheelchair level which frustrates patients who want to learn to walk again.Paul's mother hears of the accident and calls but Paul does not take the call. He and his mother have been estranged for several years. Paul grew up in a hotel his parents purchased His mother drove him to BMX races while his father stayed home to work. When his parents divorced, Paul lived with dad in Room 120 and observed how hard his father worked to get his life back together. Paul's father visits and they go out to dinner. Paul cannot remember a time he saw his father crying. Paul girlfriend Nichole is set to leave and return to Nevada to work. It is implied Paul still has ability to have sex. Some survivors report an even better sex life after their injuries.Paul is thrilled he was able to pee standing up. Small incremental steps such at this build motivation. When Paul reaches his last day at Craig, he has not reached his goal of walking out, yet seems dedicated to work and improve.Paul returns to his home in Reno, Nevada, and the real world. One survivor describes that experience as the bubble of continued support the hospital constantly provides bursting.By Day 120, Paul can take small, assisted steps but relies on wheelchair for mobility. Many survivors have home modifications to accommodate their new situation. Home, when no one is there becomes a lonely place. Survivors view each of the elements of their home differently. It becomes part of the metamorphosis of the necessary change in themselves.Paul receive a call from Cameron Zink. When Paul was 15, it was Zink who got Paul interested in mountain bike freeriding. In 2004, Paul saved up enough money to enters first mountain bike event at Whistler and won the Slopestyle event. The next year, he repeated his title and proved he was not a fluke. Survivors note a loss of friends and their old ways. They get depressed for being an inconvenience.By Day 180, since leaving rehab, Paul's physical gains have slowed significantly. Despite having insurance bills do continue to pile up. Paul's friends and family host a fund-raising auction event for him. Paul walks with a walker to the mailbox in his subdivision. He relives the rock star life he had has a professional mountain bike rider. These days, Paul's hours are filled with physical training alone in his home.After one year, with leg braces and additional strength, Paul can walk with use of two canes. He can also drive. Paul and Nichole drive to the Red Bull Rampage in Virgin, Utah which was the scene of his accident. Paul tells Nichole he can vividly remember every detail of his fall and the aftermath on that fateful day. Everything Paul focuses on now seems to try and improve his ability to walk.At one year and three months since his accident, Paul is frustrated by his lack of progress. He begins to research other recovery options. He uses a breathing coach to improve his cardio-vascular health. Stem cell therapies have also been suggested. Adult stem cells are sourced from one's own body. Embryonic stem cells are harvested from fertile embryos in a laboratory. They hold more promise but can be rejected by the patient's varying DNA and can cause unwanted side effects. Paul consults people who have been treated with stem cells, an embryonic stem cell advocate, a doctor who designed a therapy and his own physician with varying opinions on their potential benefits, but finds no guarantees. Paul seems determined to do whatever it takes to walk again.After one year and six months since his injury. Paul finds an alternative treatment: fetal stem cells derived from aborted babies. Paul can obtain such a treatment in Tijuana Mexico. In a conversation with Nichole, she thinks fetal stem cell harvesting is an immoral procedure but is willing to consider it because Paul has been more difficult to live with because of his frustration of lack of progress in his situation. Paul and Nichole drive to Tijuana to get the treatment. Paul awakens every day hoping some muscle groups will refire, but he knows the recovery will take many months.At one year nine months after his crash, Paul can walk short distances with a single cane. Paul concludes the only thing the stem cell treatment has done is drain his bank account. Though approaching the two- year anniversary of the accident, Paul does not feel his recovery is complete. This thought us echoed by other spinal cord injury survivors who also regained some abilities well beyond the two-year mark. Paul expresses a level of frustration that he doesn't seem to be improving, though Nichole disagrees. Paul is proud, however, that he got over any thought of taking his own life if he was paralyzed.At 2 years, Paul has tried to take a few unassisted steps without canes. Acceptance does not mean giving up on progressing but finding a way to get on with life. Many of the survivors found a way to return to the sport they loved in a modified way including surfing, basketball, bike riding, dance, music, and school. Paul is able to ride a bike.At 2 years 6 months, Paul takes unassisted steps and then got down on a knee and proposed to Nichole. He and Nichole road bicycles through Amsterdam like average Joes.