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Meet Adaptive Athlete: Joe Englehardt

 

Joe Englehardt

DOB: November 16th, 1980

DOI: March 16th, 2009

PATHOLOGY: SCI

Joe Englehardt Headshot

I grew up in Paris, Texas, a small town northeast of Dallas. There wasn't much to do there besides play sports, so I did soccer and basketball, but my favorite was baseball. That is, until I found marching band. I found a true passion in playing music, and it still drives me to this day. It came naturally to me, and I even became a leader, teaching others how to play and march. I wanted to become a professional musician until circumstances required me to take a hiatus from life. Upon my return, I continued that passion in college, marching in the Goin' Band From Raiderland at Texas Tech, and becoming a leader there as well.

I never gave up on my athletic side either. My dad found passion in riding bicycles and got me into it as well. Before long we were riding between 40-60 miles every weekend in events all across Texas and Oklahoma. I even did a few triathlons and 5K runs.

While in Junior College getting my basics before transferring to Tech, I did some self-reflection about my career and realized being a musician wasn't the right path for me. So upon transferring to Tech I enrolled in the architecture program. I soon found I had a passion for drawing and working with my hands. I loved to build scale models of my designs, and even got a job in the wood shop where I could hone my skills while helping others with their projects.

 

2008 was a great year for me, and I'm so thankful for it. I was in the best physical shape of my entire life, I had a great relationship with a lovely woman, I had my first grown up job as an intern in an architecture firm, we played our best show ever in Goin' Band, "Pirates of the Caribbean", Texas Tech beat the #2 team in the nation, Texas, in football, and I graduated with my bachelor's degree in December. I was happy.

On March 16, 2009 my life changed forever. For Spring Break, my roommate invited me and a few other friends on a camping and hiking trip in the mountains of west Texas. We arrived on the evening of the 15th. We did a short hike behind the cabin, then came back and grilled food and played some cards. I went to bed thinking this was going to be a great trip. I woke up 2 weeks later in the hospital ICU wearing a halo and not being able to move. Since I have no recollection of that day, the story told to me is that we went for a hike up an old creek bed up the mountain. I took a side trail, and when I got to the top, the rock I grabbed onto broke lose, making me lose my balance and causing me to fall 30 feet to the cactus and rocks below.

I spent 4 grueling months in the hospital, my mom by my side since the day I woke up. I cannot thank her enough, I do not know what I would have done without her being there for me. Her love and passion helped keep me together during the most horrific time in my life. Although my doctors played an important roll in my recovery, all they did was put me back together. It is the wonderful staff of nurses and therapists that took care of me day in and day out that saved my life. Their caring nature and bright personalities are what brought me back from the darkness that I was certainly heading towards. Words cannot express my gratitude for their friendships, and I am honored to still be their friend today.

Upon my release from the hospital, I spent 6 month in intense physical therapy, learning to walk again. Again, I could not have done it without the caring drive for improvement from my therapist. She instilled in me the desire to get better, and pushed me to my limits and beyond. By Christmas, I was walking with just a cane. In January, I returned to school to finish my graduate degree.

By March, a year after my accident, I was walking so good I was forgetting my cane. I went home to visit my parents when I tripped on the carpet, landing on my hip and breaking it. This semester in grad school was the hardest I had ever been in, so I elected not to pursue therapy for my hip in order to complete my schooling; a decision I would later fully regret. My knee was still messed up from the original accident, since all they did was take out the broken pieces, so I figured since I was out for my hip, might as well get my knee done too. So 3 months later I had my first knee surgery. And I have been on the walker ever since. By the end of grad school I had 2 more knee surgeries, both of which did no good.

This last surgery, the total knee replacement with a patella realignment, has finally fixed my knee structurally, although I still cannot bend it past about 100 degrees. No more pain in the joint or shifting of the kneecap. However, it has reignited the nerves in my leg causing severe muscle spasms, keeping me on the walker.

I now lead a good life. I am self-sustaining, I do not need much help at all; I have a great job in architecture designing multifamily housing in a company I love. But I want more. I miss playing sports, riding my bike, and playing my horn. I miss not having to worry about how far the parking spaces are from the venue, and whether or not I like my furniture arrangement because I can move it later. I want off all my medication. I want to go back to that mountain and see where I fell. I want to travel without the worry of accessibility. I want this, and much much more. It is my wish that with the help of Adaptive Training Foundation I will be able to achieve these goals, and live a much happier life.