Update on fellow employee: A couple of us supervisors went to the hospital and got to visit and talk for a while as he is now out of ICU. He explained what happened rather than the story that we got. He came over a hill with 2 lanes in each direction and he was in left lane, the light was green but 2 vehicles were stopped and the front vehicle was attempting to turn left, so he had to come down hard on the brakes and couldn’t get over into the right lane on account of traffic. He continued to attempt to get into left lane because he did not like the situation he was in but before he knew it a vehicle came over the hill and he also had to come down hard on the brakes but could not stop in time. That is how he was hit. I am sure that most of us have been in that situation before one time or another as I know I have but I have been fortunate to be able to get off on the berm and still keep an eye on the rearview mirror.
I was really amazed at the way he talked about it and just talked like it was just another day, all this and he knows that he has really no chance of ever walking again. He is paralyzed from the waist down. I know they have made huge advancements in what people that have these disabilities can do but I won’t lie I would be in deep depression for a long time if it were me, but I give him a lot of credit to be so positive. We are already talking and trying to figure out a way to bring him back as a civilian to give him a chance to be productive in another capacity at the facility if he would be interested. I don’t know if we can make this happen but we will definitely make an honest effort to make it happen. This will take a while as he has a lot of therapy to go thru and to learn how to use items that he will need to go thru life still have some kind of quality of life and such.
