just one of hundreds of my mishaps.
is the writing correct and how does one start writing a book? Thank you....DANA
I was paralyzed in a diving accident 20yrs ago at the age of 24.
I have limited arm function and can't move anything below my chest and
have no finger movement and get around in an electric wheel chair and
About 15yrs ago I was driving home [I have a special van equipped with
hand controls.] and it was hunting season and I had my gun inside the van.
Being disabled I can hunt out of my van. It was
November and very cold and It was near dusk and on the spur of the moment
I decided to go down an old logging road off an old dirt road that I had
been down once and I went miles down the logging road and my van got
stuck in the mud and I have a lift that gets me in and out of my van
but I was stuck against thick brush and I could not even open the door.
I had left a friends house, I had been sleeping there a couple of days
and at the time my Brother was living with me and he was my aid that
helped me to bed at night and took care of me. I went on the spur
of the moment I had told no one where I was going and my brother thought
I was at the friends home and the friend assumed I was at home and
I knew that it may be days before anyone would figure out I was missing
but hoped it would be sooner and I would see search planes soon.
This was well before cell phones and had just removed my broken CB radio.
I had less than a 1/4 of a tank of gas and ran out of gas that night trying
to stay warm with the heater. Since I can hunt out of my vehicle
I had only a tee shirt on. Remember, this was in the Maine woods and I started
to get cold. It took me 3 hrs but I managed to cut the fake sheepskin
off the passenger seat and tried to cover at least part of myself with
it. My body gets cold very fast because of slow circulation being
a quadriplegic.It was around 40 degrees outside and I was shivering
uncontrollably. I know that firing 3 shots in a row
was like an SOS so I stuck the rifle out the window and fired.
I also honked my horn three
times in a row then waited a few seconds and repeated it for about
five minutes but then my horn gave out. Just my luck. I was
hungry, thirsty and only had an old cooler in the back of the van.
Hoping there might be an old can of soda or beer I managed to open it.
Nothing inside but the smell, it was awful.
After a few hrs It started to rain so
I managed to stick the cooler out the window and catch some rain water.
It stunk and tasted as bad but I had to get water in me so I drank the
little bit I was able to catch. I found two tiny candy bars left
over from Halloween and ate them the first night. I decided to fire
SOS shots from my gun again any ways, I had nothing to loose, but before
I could get my gun I accidentally hit it with my wheel chair and it fell
onto the floor snapping the clip out and bending a part of it. With
limited hand function I use my teeth a lot to assist myself in doing daily
activities. In the process of trying to fix the clip I broke part
of my front tooth off. I was now in terrible pain along with my constant
shivering. I thought perhaps it would be better to die soon rather than
suffer for days like this. It was the second day and when the sun
rose I got some relief as the sun came through the windshield and warmed
my face a little. I was so desperate knowing that the temperature
could fall and I would freeze to death that I rolled down my window and
screamed help, help me. To my surprise I heard dogs barking.
There must be a house near by I thought. I can't holler loudly because
being paralyzed my diaphragm is weak and my scream is about as loud as
a normal persons cough would be. Again to my sruprise this
time I heard a mans voice telling the dogs to shut up. My voice being
so weak only the dogs heard my screams. I was getting dizzy from
screaming. The dogs would bark every time I screamed. I heard the
man yell at the dogs again loud and angry like and one dog yelped
as if he were hit or kicked and then I no longer heard the dogs.
I know animals can sense things and I knew they knew I needed help.
my dogs know when I need help. When I get stuck in sand or they
see me struggle or scream for help they understnd and if I say to get my wife or
even if my wife is not home and I drop my phone and get stuck they
sit right next to me until help arrives. That nut did not know dogs.
I know he kicked or hit it one so he is not an animal person and would not
follow them if they tried.
I was giving up. The pain and cold was getting to me and to top it
off I was turning my radio on once in a while hoping I would hear that
a man was lost and people were looking for me.
The news I heard was what I had been dreading. The temperature was going
to plummet to well below freezing this night and I knew I was going to die.
I was actually going to freeze to death inside my van.
I grabbed every little piece of paper I could find including the candy wrappers
and began writing with a half ass pen that skipped and took forever to write one word.
I just started writing to friends and family on what to do after I was found.
My parents are snow birds and they were living in Florida
for the winters. I remember the hardest thing to write. IT was something like
Dear Mom and Dad I am sorry I did not tell anyone whereI was going.
I love you both very much. I can't exactly remember what else I wrote.
Just before it got dark I saw something in the side view mirror .
I could not believe my eyes. It was a man walking towards me. I am sure he was
going to come up to my van any ways to see what I was doing out there but
I screamed HELP ME! In my mind I was thinking he might just turn around
or walk by me or I was seeing things. He finally got to me and I told him what I
had gone through and he said that he had not been out in those woods for years.
Something told him to come out there he said. He picked me up and carried me to his
truck that was parked a ways back on the old road. He sat me down
on his seat and turned the heat on high and I thought I was in heaven.
He eventually pulled my van out with a chain. I thanked him over
and over and finally asked him his name and address. After driving
myself to the hospital to get checked out for hypothermia I went home to
sleep and then went out and bought a thank you card for him. A thank
you for saving my life card. Shortly after that ordeal I moved to
Florida where I am now getting stuck in the sand. I miss Maine a lot but not the
cold winters.
I have many, many stories. Sorry for the poor letter writing.
I am not use to writing stories.
Thanks for any advice
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