---
title: SCI Happens to the Whole Family
description: Now, 12 years post-injury I can say that as a family, we are much closer for having gone through this experience; it has made us all better people.
---

[Voices From The Community | Spinal Cord Injury & Paralysis](https://blog.christopherreeve.org/en)

# [SCI Happens to the Whole Family](https://blog.christopherreeve.org/en/sci-whole-family)

 Written by [Amber Collie](https://blog.christopherreeve.org/en/author/amber-collie) | May 15, 2023 1:00:00 PM

When an individual becomes suddenly paralyzed from a spinal cord injury, that person’s life drastically changes and will never be the same. One minute you’re running into the ocean waves; the next minute, you are face down in the water, unable to turn your head for a breath, which was the case for my son.

At that same moment, as the mother of a child who sustained a spinal cord injury, your life has radically changed and will never be what it was before. I was 38, a mother of 4 and ran a small photography business. Busy booking photo shoots and juggling career and family.

One phone call changed my life’s path. That call informed me my 15-year-old boy was in the hospital and could not move. I knew very little about paralysis. I also knew I had to help him; I had to come alongside my child so he could move forward with his young life. There was simply no other option. Zack’s reaction to his diagnosis was not what I expected; after being told he was now a quadriplegic, Zack intentionally focused on what he could still move, so the healing began. After surgery and 3 months of living in the rehab hospital, Zack came home. While in the hospital, we remodeled our bathroom with a roll-in shower, Thanks to some construction friends. We paved a walkway around the house to our back slider door, where we put a wheelchair ramp. Once Zack was able to get inside, life was now trial and error.

[View full post](https://blog.christopherreeve.org/en/sci-whole-family)

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