A tragic accident left a 24-year-old Florida visitor, Anthony Purcell, with a lifetime of problems. It all happened when he dove into the water off of South Beach in Miami and right into a sandbar.
Luckily, he was able to survive, but was paralyzed in the accident. He suffered from two bruised vertebrae and a broken neck. He was at the intensive care unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital for six weeks. For most of his time spent there, he was in a medically induced coma. During his stay, his lungs collapsed more than 15 times.
“I thought I was going to die,” recalls the young man.
As soon as he could, he started rehabilitation, which made all the difference. The young man and his mother recently founded a foundation to help to get similar victims the same kind of help. It’s the Walking with Anthony foundation. Now, he can stand with a walker and can bench press nearly 200 pounds!
Our Coral Springs personal injury attorneys understand the pain and the struggle that these victims experience after such catastrophic accidents. It’s always uplifting to hear about those who fight their way through the struggle. When the young man first entered rehab, he couldn’t even stand, now he’s walking around and working out. He even recently hosted his first fundraiser on the 2nd of November.
The event was called “South Florida Movement for Change: It’s Time to Soar” and was held at the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. The fundraiser is helping to collect grants for Chris Hickox and Nick Williams, both students were athletes from Cardinal Gibbons High School. One was paralyzed from the waist down and the other was left with a serious spinal cord injury after a 2009 ATV crash.
The grants that are raised are going to help to get the two much-needed treatment for the Spinal Cord Injury Recovery Center in California.
“You need rehab immediately,” says Purcell’s mother. “The faster, the better. I’ve seen that with my own son, and I can’t imagine someone else not being able to do that for their own.”
The family decided that they wanted to launch this foundation when the figured out that there was little help for these injury victims, despite all of the funding that goes toward research. Most people who experience these injuries don’t have the funds to treat them. Unfortunately, most insurance companies only cover this treatment for less than 3 weeks.
The foundation has raised nearly $250,000 so far and has already been given to those in need to rehabilitation services.
According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Database, each year there are more than 10,000 people who suffer a spinal cord injury. Close to 85 percent of these victims are men.
The truth of the matter is that lifetime costs for these kinds of injuries can be millions of dollars. Unfortunately, we don’t all have that lying around as spare change. That’s why it’s important that we fight for our rights and for the compensation that we deserve. That’s where an aggressive attorney comes in.
If you or someone who is close to you has been injured or killed in an accident, contact the personal injury lawyers of Freeman, Mallard, Sharp & Gonzalez, LLC for a free and confidential consultation to discuss your rights. Call 1-800-561-7777.
More Blog Entries:
Pompano Beach Parasailing Accident Takes Life of Tourist, South Florida Injury Lawyers Blog, September 6, 2012
Accidents in Stuart City and Elsewhere Land Sunshine State as 18th Most Dangerous, South Florida Injury Lawyers Blog, May 15, 2012