WEBVTT

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- I remember my first
memory that actually stayed.

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I was like, gosh.

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(sirens wailing)
(somber music)

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This is a crazy dream,
what a crazy dream this is.

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I can tell you what I've been told.

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It was probably around
eight o'clock at night.

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I was going to meet a friend
and his sister for dinner.

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I guess I left my house around
8:00 and I went downtown.

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All the damage on the car was
on the corner of the bumper,

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and all the damage on
my bike was on the side.

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So I think we may have
come around like this

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and merged into each other.

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Either way, bike hit
the car, I flew 70 feet

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and the bike slid like, 200 feet.

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You always hear dress for
the crash or whatever,

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and it's not a question of if

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you're going to wreck but when.

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And I was like ah not me, you know.

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I'll never have a wreck, I'll never crash.

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And then sure enough it happened.

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And I'm definitely glad
I was wearing like,

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probably over $1000 of gear.

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And I broke my tibia, I broke
my clavicle, broke my sternum.

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I separated my jaw from my skull.

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I had the orbital blowout fracture,

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I had tibial skull fractures.

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I ended up having two head bleeds,

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one subarachnoid and one subdural,

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which is like above and
below the skin of your brain.

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I guess there was some
doubt as to whether or not

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I was going to have long
term effects at first

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but I felt pretty lucky
to just be around at all.

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My commander found out.

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He was on vacation at
the time with his family,

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and it didn't matter, him and the shirts

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still took the appropriate action,

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notifying my family, because
I was in critical condition,

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like nobody was sure whether or not

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I was going to live or die at all.

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So like, time was of the essence.

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The biggest thing that helped my recovery

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was definitely my family coming out.

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But then also my Air Force family,

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my friends in my squadron
that helped support

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my mom and dad, brother and
sister, during that process.

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In those times when my mom was alone,

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sitting in the hospital,
sometimes in the evening,

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sometimes late at night,
my commander or his wife

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would come to the
hospital and sit with her,

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and keep her company while she was alone.

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She loves the Air Force for that.

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Part of my physical
recovery was my horse Indy.

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I had had Indy for several years.

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She was patient enough to
help me take baby steps

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to work back to where
I could just ride her

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all through the mountains

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and through the desert and stuff again.

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I just remember something
my little brother told me,

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who at some point grew into a wise man.

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He was like yeah, you know,
in this whole recovery process

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you've just got to focus
on like, the next thing.

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Like, just the very next step.

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Nothing cosmic, you know.

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When I was still in the hospital

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and still on convalescent leave,

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I was just thinking
about, I hope I don't have

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any permanent repercussions
from all of this.

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I hope I can stay in the Air Force.

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Maybe one day I can fly again.

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But I'm still fighting that battle.

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(quiet piano music)