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I was driving home one night in my SUV. I overcompensated when making a turn and I rolled the vehicle over, smashed through a telephone pole and then I hit a group of trees. I severed C-6 and C-7 on my spinal cord.

I woke up in the emergency room with a halo on my head. It was difficult to process what had happened and accept that I was going to have to live with limitations for the rest of my life.

Let me stop and tell you a little bit about myself. I was born in New Jersey and lived there for most of my life. When I was in high school I worked for a paint company. When I graduated I went into the service and after discharge I rejoined the paint company and spent the next ten years managing a successful retail store. After that I moved to a competing paint company and I worked as an outside paint representative and later I managed three retail stores. I eventually went into business for myself, with a partner and I opened my own retail paint store. Along the way I got married and raised two sons.

My whole life changed instantly after the accident. One of my boys was fifteen at the time and a wrestler in high school. I had coached him since he was five years old and that was the time that I was going to see the results from his hard work. I couldn’t go see him and it really was upsetting. My sons adjusted to the changes in my life after I became paralyzed and they have been a great support to me.

I was in the hospital for weeks. From there I went to an acute rehab and then to a nursing home but a family member found out about Northeast Center and I came here to complete my rehabilitation.

When I arrived I was depressed as it had been tough to remain motivated. A physical therapist at the Center honed in on my mindset immediately and was encouraging to me. I began to see the psychologist and talk things out - that was a very big help for me. I got on an even-keel after that and I look at things a lot differently now.

Day to day life got a lot harder after the accident. It used to bother me that I couldn’t do things the way I used to, but I learned to deal with the changes and it doesn’t get to me any more. I also worked hard to get as functional as possible.

Chuck M., with Northeast Center staff: Joy Santiago (L) and Christine Pearson (R).

Finding accessible housing in the community has been difficult because there is not enough to meet the need. After some disappointments finally housing opened-up. I’m moving to a one bedroom apartment. Paul, an occupational therapist at Northeast Center is helping me to work with my new landlord so that the apartment is fully accessible when I move in.  One of the things I plan to do when I get home is to find a job and get back into the mainstream.

I’m doing consumer directed personal assistant services. That is a program where I can interview and hire my own aides - I have sixteen hours a day of services to help me stay independent when I am home and in the community.

Two therapists who worked with me at Northeast Center, Lucas and Mike, were wonderful. I feel very lucky to have worked with them - they were great motivators and the top of their field, in my opinion.

If I could say something to someone who has been injured and is at the start of their rehabilitation journey, I’d tell them that at one time I felt despair but that there is life after an injury. It takes a lot of hard work but in the end it will pay off.

Northeast Center is a place that I wish there were more of. I can’t say enough about what being here has done for me physically and mentally. To this day I am still grateful to many staff members especially the nurses’ aides. The aides work with a lot of injured people here - especially people with brain injury and they learn to deal with the different personalities, cognitive limitations and provide good care. The nurses here are outstanding as are the therapists. It’s a good place.