Wednesday, December 21, 2011

A Simple Sketch

A Simple Sketch

      As a boy I had the typical mindset of a five-year. I would do handstands against the wall until the blood rushed all the way into my head leaving me wondering which way was up. I would race my cousins from one end of the street down to the other so fast that I could beat them with my hands tied behind my back. I remember climbing the tree in our front yard over and over again without shoes. And if I got cut I'd be the last one to notice. I was one of those kids that if nature had taken its normal course and I would've grown up in a public school you probably would've seen me playing basketball or football. As a matter of fact I was told by my parents that I was so fast I could beat my cousins running up and down the street back and forth four times without stopping and win every time. It sounded to me like I was one of those kids who could have gone to the Olympics as a track runner.
      There was one morning on the 17th of August, 1982 when my life took a turn for the best. But prior to that day, the night before, to be exact, there was a burglary in the neighborhood. The police had come by that evening and made sure that the family who had been robbed was okay. They did their normal reporting and canvassing. The next morning an officer drove around the neighborhood a couple times once again, if nothing else, to let everybody know that security was around. I had gone to my friend's house which was two houses down from mine and got him to join me and have some fun over at Mrs. Petty’s playground set. It had monkey bars, slides, swings, sandbox, the usual. I was rather antsy that morning and when I asked him to go he got approval from his parents and we headed over. Hardy, my friend, walked across the street and up Mrs. Petty's driveway. I had decided to stay back a few feet and was around the trash cans at the end of his driveway. And with a split decision I jumped out into the street to rush over and race him to the playground set. But, what I didn't know was that the officer who was policing the neighborhood was just a few cars down the street at that moment. As I jumped out to race across the street he was waiting right there and at the last moment he slammed on brakes, but it was too late.
      He performed CPR until the ambulance arrived at which time they took me in and perform protocol trying to see what had happened, if I was alive, what they could do to revive me. The recollection goes a little bit like this. Hardy’s sister was watching through the window at the moment and when she saw it happen she ran down to my house and started beating on the door. My mom was getting ready at that time and started wondering who was at the door beating so violently. She made a bee-line for the front door and opened it up and Hardy’s sister yelled out, "Marcus has been hit!" My mom looked up and down the street and saw what she was talking about and ran not knowing exactly what she was going to see. She saw the officer on the ground performing CPR on a small body, which was mine. At that moment thoughts rushed through her head and she didn't know what to think so she started beating on the officer until she realized he was trying to revive me. When the ambulance arrived they rushed me in and for few hours my mom, dad, sister and pastor were waiting in the lobby and for a time until word came of what was going on. Dad had gone back to the house to brush up and take care of a few things and received somewhat of a surprise when he drove back onto the hospital campus. He saw my doctor's car race quite quickly through the parking lot but he didn't know exactly what that meant, if anything. As he arrived at the waiting area where everyone was he met my doctor as he came out into the waiting room. The doctor looked at my parents and told them that I had received a massive blow to the left hemisphere of my brain and as a result I would be limited in certain areas. He said because of this I would have very limited motor skills with my hands and fingers and arms. He also told them that I would not be able to talk and if by chance I did it would be with a speech impediment. He told my parents as he was explaining this to them that I would not be able to walk either. When he finished informing my parents as he did he turned around and went back into the O.R. room. He was washing up and prepping to go in to my skull and relieve pressure by drilling a small hole to drain the blood out. Fifteen minutes after he entered into the room he came back out with this puzzled look on his face. Then he looked at everyone waiting there for me in the waiting room and said that he didn't know what happened. He said that there were no vital signs, my eyes were not dilating, there was no sign of life. But, all of a sudden, as they were attempting to start procedure my eyes started to dilate and the machines did show some sort of activity. Therefore, he said they were going to watch me and see how I progressed as they stuck me in the ICU.
      I was in a coma for about 6 1/2 weeks of which during that time no one, including the doctors, knew what was going to happen. They weren't sure whether I would be totally paralyzed, partially paralyzed or what kind of condition I would have to endure. I ended up coming out of the coma with everyone discovering that I was totally paralyzed on my right side. I could not raise my arm or lift my leg. I spent the next month and a half in ICU trying to recuperate to where I could go back home. After three months of being in a coma and recuperating thereafter I was able to go home and start the process of rehabilitation.
      The following year, 1983, I started in a school for those with special needs or physical handicaps. It was there I actually learned how to swim, because in the coming days and for quite a few years I loved to swim. I would swim underwater as well as on top and would stay in the water as long as I was allowed. It was at this school that I learned how to walk on crutches and continued on crutches for many years until a bout with death almost took me once again in April of 2002. I went through a special needs school for approximately 2 years until the family moved to Charlotte, NC where I attended a regular public school. For the next four years in Charlotte and the first year in Raleigh, NC I attended public school. But from my sixth grade year on up through my senior year in 1996, I went to a Christian school, Friendship Christian Schools. I attended Wake Technical Community College from the fall of 1996 through the spring of 1997 and then transferred to Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. I graduated there May 11, 2002. However, during my education years there at LU I went out west with an evangelist friend of mine, Dave Kistler and his family for 2 1/2 months from July 1, 2000 – September 17, 2000. But, the next year at LU, fall of 2001 I had contracted walking pneumonia and the next few months every time I would stand up to walk my legs would shake so bad that they would almost throw me over. Therefore, one of my doctors prescribed some muscle relaxers to help with the shaking, thinking it was just muscular spasms and nothing more. So, in December of that year when I had gotten home for Christmas break I started on those muscle relaxers, Baclafen, one of the strongest muscle relaxers out there. Between that muscle relaxer and another which had been prescribed to me a couple months later in place of Baclafen, Zanaflex, I was struggling each and every day to try and keep my eyes open.
      On April 2, 2002 a friend of mine Paul Pittman and another friend Charlie had gone out that evening to Sam's Club to pick up some items that they needed. When they arrived back in the dorm Paul asked Charlie if he had seen me that day and Charlie said, no! Paul looked over at my scooter and noticed it was in the same place as the night prior when he helped me into the room. He looked under my door and there was light shining underneath, however, my door was locked, which was never the case no matter what. So they spent in a few minutes knocking on the door trying to get me to answer. They went around the outside to my window and looked through that way but did not see me. So, they ended up calling the campus police which just responded back that I was probably just sleeping heavily. Therefore, Paul ends up calling the RD, Resident Director, Darrin and saying he needed to get up there to unlock the door. Darrin said he would be up there in about five minutes, whereas Paul quickly responded, "No, you need to get up here now!" When Darrin arrived and opened up the door they all saw me lying on the floor. My skin was light blue and there were no noticeable signs of life. The ambulance came and took me to Lynchburg Gen. Hospital at about 8:30 PM that evening. The Dean of Men, Dean Emrick, called my parents who got up there shortly after midnight and I still was not revived. My mom said she finally took my left hand, with the doctors focusing on my right side, and was able to get a response from me. She said I had opened up my eyes and then closed them again. For 5 1/2 weeks I was in three different hospitals, Lynchburg Gen., Duke and Durham Gen. Hospitals.
      For the next year I worked on getting my strength back and getting back up on my feet as much as I could. A few months later, in September, I started doing just that. And in December I was up on my crutches well enough where I felt comfortable. However, in February, I had come down with a severe sore throat, one of the worst I've ever had. Therefore, I ended up going to the doctor not long after the severity of the sore throat had appeared, receiving a strong dose of medication. To make a long story short, for the next 4 1/2 months, as a result of that medication, I contracted a virus of which I could not shake. But, the Lord finally allowed me to be able to get rid of that virus and continue on. Yet, during that time, I ended up getting so weak that what I had gained up until February I had lost by March. So, I started having to use a scooter. A few months prior to ridding myself of this sickness, which, by the way was in mid July, I had applied to Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC and had gotten accepted. I started to BJU in August, at the start of the academic year and continued on for three years, through the spring of 2006.
      January of 2006 I had started to notice my left hand feeling numb. So, enduring that semester, I had surgery performed on my left elbow, ulnar nerve, and left wrist, carpal tunnel surgery in August that summer. As a result of that surgery, the elbow had healed and improve but my left hand had not. For two years I went to three different doctors trying to figure out why my left hand as well as my whole arm, up to the top of my deltoid muscle, continued to feel numb. I finally ended up going to see a doctor, Dr. Gabr, who determined along with other MRIs done by previous doctors that what was seen in those MRIs more than likely causing the feeling in my arm. They had noticed a small spot inside of my spinal cord right up near the third vertebrate. Dr. Gabr determined, based on my accident when I was five years old that this spot that was on the inside of my spinal cord was probably caused from a whiplash effect initiated when I got hit by the police car. So, for now I deal with that symptom on a day-to-day basis, not to say that it's bad at all, for it's not. Therefore, for 4 1/2 years I was at home trying to figure out what was wrong with my arm and what to do next.
      In November of 2009 the Lord blessed me with a van up-fitted for me to drive on my own which opened the door up for me to go back to school. It didn't seem appropriate for me to go back to BJU at the time so, in January of 2011 I started school at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC, which brings me to where I am now, only a few days before Christmas of  '11. At the time that I write this I have just discovered that I have made an A in Ethics.

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