Being 13 - With a serious spinal injury

My story begins on March 17, 2022 and it’s still going on.

It was a fairly standard day. I went to school like every other day, did the same things with my friends, and did the same subjects. Little did I know what was in store for me for not only the next few hours, but for the next few days, weeks, months and even years. I’m 13 years old and I live in Wānaka, New Zealand. I bike to school every day and really love getting outdoors.

So, at the end of the day when none of my friends could hang out after school, I started my bike home like I would every other day. However, this time, because I had time on my hands I made a short detour through our dirt jump park, Lismore, which is pretty much right next to my school. Having more or less grown up there, these jumps are super familiar to me. Usually the park is super busy after school, however today it was not. I hadn’t been there in a while and as silly as it sounds, the reason I chose to go there that day was because no one was there, which was unusual, but since I'd done those jumps so many times I didn't question it twice. At the top of the run in to my favourite jump line, I took off my school bag and put my phone and AirPods that were in my pocket inside of it. And then, off I went.

Looking back now, it's quite scary how fast I went into that first jump, however in the moment I only realised that once I'd taken off. As my bike left the ground, I saw the landing of the jump disappear beneath me, and the take off of the next get closer and closer. Having done this jump so many times, I knew straight away I was going to crash. I was going well over double the height and speed needed to land it smoothly. You hear stories of people having life-threatening moments and seeing themselves in third person, and it was in the split second before I hit the ground that I experienced this. Then, I remember a massive thwack, which was my head hitting the ground and then after that I just remember lying on my side, unable to move or feel any part of my body and barely being able to breathe. Depending on what level of your spine you injure, different parts of your bodies can be affected and as I found out later on, I crushed my C4 vertebrae which directly affects your diaphragm and intercostal muscles which enable you to breathe. My breathing was under 15% of what it usually was. My hand flopped down in front of me, and I saw that it was bleeding badly, however I was completely unable to feel it. It was then that I realised I had seriously injured myself. I steered my mind away from all dark thoughts about consequences that tried to cloud my mind, because I knew that if I panicked and stopped being able to breathe that would make things a lot worse. In some respects I was quite lucky because of my injury I couldn’t feel any pain, just a bit of discomfort in my neck.

It was about 20 minutes before anybody arrived, and again I was incredibly lucky with who found me. A couple of guys who were running a kids club spotted me from the roadside and immediately took action. I have never felt such relief in my life as when I heard their voices. I was lying in a very awkward position and immediately they called the ambulance and checked that I hadn’t also had a head injury. Another thing I am grateful for is that despite the incredible amount of impact that my head took, I mean the fact that I split my helmet in half and somehow didn’t get any form of injury to the head is just amazing. I was able to tell them my mum’s phone number and from there everything started taking place extremely quickly. By this time the discomfort in my neck had become a fairly painful throb and despite me asking the men to move me, they were amazing and said no. A lot of spinal injuries are not only caused by the accident itself, but in situations where for example the person needs resuscitation, which risks moving the neck, the injury can very easily be made worse as a result.

Firstly, the ambulance and paramedics arrived. They carefully turned me onto my back and just as my parents arrived got me onto the stretcher. The next few hours were a blur. I was taken to the Wānaka Medical Centre to wait for the helicopter that would take me straight to Christchurch hospital. By this stage they had given me fentanyl as a pain relief so I was coming in and out of consciousness and only remember small snippets of the following few hours. I have very vague memories of the helicopter ride, and once we got to the hospital the memories become less and less clear.

In the emergency department, I vaguely remember lots of people asking me questions and according to my mum, who had come with me in the helicopter, I was awake enough to answer them. My next memory is going into the MRI scanner which was an experience I never want to re-live. I was extremely uncomfortable and confused on top of the claustrophobia that I found came with the tunnel of the scanner. After that, I hazily remember meeting my surgeon and that’s the last I remember before waking up in ICU.

I woke up midday on the 18th ventilated and unable to speak. I made it very clear how uncomfortable the breathing tube was and once the nurses clarified I didn’t need it any more they immediately took it out which is not a feeling I would wish on anybody. Still unable to speak due to where the breathing tube had been, my surgery and my breathing which was still not great, Mum had to translate my brief rasps and learnt to become an amazing lip reader. My surgery had gone through the front of my neck, and they had to quite literally clamp my throat and vocal chords to one side whilst they took a bone graft from my hip, removed all the crushed bone that was my vertebrae, and then injected the graft in place of that. On top of that they placed a metal plate securing my C3, C4, and C5 together.

I spent a total of 11 days in intensive care which lived up to the name and were extremely intense. For everybody. One major issue I faced was related to my breathing and diaphragm. Unable to cough, they had to use a combination of machines and pushing down on my chest to get me to cough as I had an overproduction of sputum in my lungs, again caused by the injury.

Every three hours I’d have to be turned to avoid getting pressure sores, which is another story altogether. I was on a huge number of medications such as morphine, ketamine, tramadol and gabapentin along with quite a few other smaller drugs.

My room had a view over the botanical Gardens which was beautiful, and whilst because of Covid I wasn’t allowed any visitors, instead a few people stood below my window and waved up at me which was really nice. Talk of the future started to turn up in conversation, and after quite a few discussions it was made clear that I would spend a few months in Burwood Hospital, the rehab part of my hospital experience.

After 11 days I was finally transferred to Burwood, where I still am. It has now been four months since my accident and I’m still proving people wrong and surprising everybody with my improvements. Yesterday, I walked a quarter of a kilometre! My sensation has returned however in some places it is slightly altered. I still have a couple of months ahead of me however it is the best place for me. Even where I am now is beyond what I imagined my outcome to be when I was in intensive care. The people here are awesome and whilst I would not wish this on anybody, there are some truely awesome characters that I reckon everybody deserves to meet. Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or want to know anything else, this is a learning journey for everybody not just including myself.

Hope this wasn’t too boring,

Toby Mills

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