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Emma Chen's WC-Club
  • 2 months ago
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00:00My friends and I, we drove to Torrey Pines Day Park. We parked at the top and walked down the beach trail. I remember stepping onto the beach. I remember being a gorgeous day. And that's sort of where my memory of that day stops.
00:21We're at Torrey Pines right now. I'm trying to get a rock to sell on a girl. My mom yelled from downstairs. She yelled my name. But I could hear in her tone that it was not her usual. Daphne, I'm home. I was, there was something else in her voice and told me Anna's been in an accident. My first question, is she alive? She wasn't even able to answer that.
00:44We drove to the airport and that's when I sort of lost it. I remember screaming in the airport and a DSA agent asked me if I'd be okay and I was just sobbing.
01:00And then we had to sit on a three and a half hour flight not knowing if she would survive.
01:05And then we walked into the emergency room and there she was, beautiful as always, but just asleep.
01:18I held her hand and whispered in her ear that I loved her. And I hoped that she could hear it.
01:25When I first woke up and when I first started remembering, Aaron was the person who was there to tell me what had really happened to me.
01:33And Anna said something, something like, what happened to my legs?
01:38I think I was asking the question out loud that hadn't been confirmed by anyone yet, but I think I knew.
01:45I remember just looking her right in the eye and saying, you know, you were at Torrey Pines and some rocks fell on you and you have a spinal cord injury.
01:52And the doctors said, you won't be able to move your legs again.
01:56And there was this long pause and everyone in the room was just holding their breath and Anna looked at us.
02:05And Anna said, but I guess I'm going to be a really good swimmer.
02:09When I'm in the water, I don't really feel any different from anybody else in the water around me.
02:19I am going to take you on your back. The reason for that is you can breathe.
02:23Feeling my mom's, my dad's, my brother's, my sister's pain that they felt for me when I was struggling.
02:32So knowing that if, if I didn't keep fighting, that it would hurt them more.
02:41And there's always what I call the basketball effect. When you first roll over, you're going to go down and then you'll come up.
02:49Every time I get into the water, I learned something new about the way I need to move my new body in order to swim and feel safe and confident in the water.
03:01For a lot of people, when they're done swimming, they stand up. But what will you do if you're just out there? And that's where I want you to have that roll.
03:11Nice. Good job. How'd that feel? Great. I feel very free.
03:17I think that's one of the most beautiful things about swimming, being in water, is that you leave behind any devices you need on land.
03:25And you come in and now it's just you.
03:28Anna is, she's incredible. There's no other person like Anna.
03:36When I first started using my wheelchair, I didn't realize how hard it would be to roll up a ramp or get down a curb.
03:44Up and down. Bam. Like a rock star.
03:47Through Sharp's occupational therapy program, they really helped me navigate my new world.
03:53Good job, Anna. Thanks, Mom.
03:55And what we're working on is to eliminate the hesitation, just to maintain the momentum.
04:01To go forward, pop up, and keep going, pop up. Not fast, but try without hesitation.
04:07And just when I think, is she ready for that, and I throw it out as a possibility, she goes after it, I say we get rid of that platform and try the four inch.
04:17Yeah? Yes. You're ready for it. All right, let's do it. All right. As if you ever said no.
04:23Need more speed. Bam.
04:27Oh!
04:29Oh!
04:31Sharp and Sharp Rehab sort of set me up for success, so I don't want to disappoint them.
04:36I mean, you've seen her. She just, whole face, smile, and her whole life's changed, and she's going after it.
04:45They contacted me to help train her for the Rock and Roll Marathon. She was training for that at the time of her accident.
04:52Ooh, feel the burn.
04:53Yeah, there you go. So you actually can pedal fast.
04:57Okay.
04:59As soon as it starts getting hard, then start downshifting.
05:05Downshift, downshift. You can do it. Once you're on your bike, you can just go as far as you want, wherever you want. That's pretty cool.
05:14That's amazing.
05:18Gorgeousness!
05:19Yeah. It's not bad.
05:23I definitely like to be able to drive to work and to the grocery store and seeing friends and all those things.
05:30Across the United States?
05:32Yes, that too.
05:33There you go. Perfect. Perfect.
05:35I'm so grateful to my whole team of therapists. I obviously would just be in bed if it wasn't for them.
05:43They've, you know, taught me how to move again.
05:47Do you think that I'll need a ramp and a swivel seat?
05:50Uh, probably not. As you continue to work with your therapy people, you're going to gain a lot more independence.
05:56Okay.
05:57Okay.
05:58Yep.
05:59Ready.
06:00And when you decide where you're going to, what car you're going to purchase?
06:03Yeah, try that out.
06:04That's another thing that's going to be interesting, yeah, because it's a two-handed job to change gears, obviously.
06:09Okay.
06:10And just let the idle speed take you around the corner by this van.
06:13Okay.
06:14Not having to think so hard about what is gas and what is brake and what is...
06:19how do you shift your gears and all those things makes me concentrate so much on what to do.
06:25Exactly.
06:26And I hope eventually I'll be able to also focus on the environment.
06:33Here we come.
06:34Good job, Anna.
06:35Sorry.
06:36Team Anna driving.
06:38I'm very excited to be able to just go somewhere all by myself, even if I'll just be driving along the coast road or going to the grocery store.
06:48I love the grocery store.
06:51Or to work.
06:52Anything that...
06:53I just, I can't even imagine.
06:54I haven't really been by myself at all.
06:56I can't even remember what that feels like.
06:59It was about maybe four or five months after her accident.
07:03You know, everyone's talking about coming back to work.
07:06And Anna's response was, well, I'll be back to work by Christmas, like, half-time or full-time by then.
07:12And we all were like, Anna, that's crazy.
07:14Why would...
07:15How are you going to be able to do that?
07:17I'm like, November.
07:18Anna's at work.
07:19Seeing patients.
07:20The first time that I could put my white coat back on and come to work and see patients,
07:27that's really when I started feeling like myself.
07:29It's when I was able to become a caretaker, a provider, a physician again.
07:34Dr. Erin King is one of my besties here and colleague.
07:39We just bonded immediately.
07:41She's been there every step of the way through my medical journey.
07:45Being on the patient side, feeling vulnerable and broken, helped me really learn what a patient needs from a physician.
07:53Yeah, Dr. Hackenberg and any medical problems.
07:56I had to sort of relearn the physical exam a little bit and just how to, you know, maneuver around a patient from a different perspective.
08:05So when I first enter the room, I'm already kind of at the patient level.
08:10So although I think patients are a little shocked maybe that I'm on wheels, I don't think they mind that, you know, usually they're sitting and so I'm sitting.
08:20So we get that eye to eye interaction.
08:24She has this like unending supply of sunshine that just like bursts out of her when she turns the corner.
08:30It's her smile. She is just bringing sunshine to everybody's life.
08:36She brightens up any room she rolls into.
08:39Her colleagues at work call her Dr. Sunshine, which I think is probably for a doctor that's, you know, the best title that you can have.
08:48And from a patient's perspective, that's, I mean, what other doctor would you want to have?
08:55Everybody was just always there.
09:01You know, with me, I didn't have to do any of this on my own.
09:08And that, I gave you 5% at the top.
09:11Yeah.
09:12At top.
09:13This is your best one.
09:14Here's where it gets harder.
09:15Stay back, stay back, stay back.
09:16Stay back, stay back.
09:17There's more of an angle.
09:18Underneath all of this is just, is my family, my friends, my community, my sharp family.
09:24It's the ultimate activity of daily living that gives you independence.
09:29Yes.
09:30Driving independently is the best.
09:31I can go wherever I want.
09:36I would not be here this far without my amazing family and friends and everybody.
09:46So I'm just super grateful.
09:47Wheelchair coming through.
09:48Wheelchair coming through.
09:49Wheelchair coming through.
09:50Wheelchair coming through.
09:53And in the water, I mean, you don't see.
10:08She's, she's one that sits in a chair.
10:11She just looks like any other swimmer out there.
10:14She's a really good swimmer now.
10:18I just hope she doesn't let it get in the way because she's still the same Anna.
10:25And we don't care if she's sitting or standing.
10:27Being in the ocean, being free, being independent, and getting to be my best self is all I could hope for.
10:37The sky is the limit for her at this point.
10:57The sky is the limit for her at this point.
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