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"Spinal cord injury has made me a better person than I was."
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Matthew Castelluccio has big plans. He’s going back to college to gain his teaching certification, a career change from his earlier position in finance.
He loves to travel, but his number one passion is sports. He’s planning to go surfing soon, and during the past year, he has gone skydiving, water skiing, snow skiing and bicycling. Matthew loves the socialization of team sports, especially his quad rugby team.
What you might not expect until you meet him in person is that this young man uses a wheelchair for mobility. At age 26, a devastating motorcycle accident left him a quadriplegic. When a car made an unexpected turn right in front of Matthew, he went flying over the handlebars. His spine was severed, all of his ribs were broken, and he suffered severe nerve damage to his right arm.
After a few weeks in the intensive care unit and months of rehab, Matthew regained some use of his left arm. He had extensive surgery to reinforce his spine, and regained some use of his shoulder.
Matthew came to the Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program at Helen Hayes Hospital for more intensive rehabilitation and for help learning the skills he would need to become independent. “The people at Helen Hayes gave me the courage to try things,” says Matthew, and he’s never looked back.
After more surgery, this time to free up his left hip, Matthew returned to Helen Hayes Hospital, first as an inpatient and then to the Day Hospital. A brief setback caused by a broken leg meant additional outpatient rehabilitation, focusing on stretching and strengthening his muscles.
Matthew worked hard, and the results showed. He earned his independence. Today, he easily navigates his wheelchair, eager to get on with his life.
Recently, he’s taken great satisfaction from teaching people about life with a disability. He travels as a speaker with one of his closest friends, a young man who was in the movie Murderball, about quad rugby. And he's joined the staff at Helen Hayes as a peer mentor to newly injured spinal cord injury patients and as the coordinator of the hospital's successful Adapted Sports & Recreation Program.
“I can live a completely normal life,” says Matthew, “other than for my wheelchair. This is who I am. It might take me a little longer to get in and out of cars, and it can be frustrating to try and reach something, but I’m a greater person than I was.” |
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