By Rachel Engel
At the time of the crash, Erik Bedwell was focused on his patient, a suspected overdose.
Moments later, the 27-year-old paramedic became a patient himself.
The crash: ‘The pain takes hold’
His memories from the moment of impact are fuzzy.
“As far as I remember, we were traveling down the highway for just a few minutes,” Bedwell recalled. “We were thinking that with the way he was acting, he might be a more critical patient, so we decided to go to a higher level of care.”
As he was beginning to start an IV, Bedwell felt something hit the side of the rig.
Minutes later, he awoke and couldn’t feel his legs.
Realizing the adrenaline was keeping his pain at bay, Bedwell made the quick decision to phone his dad and told him to head for the hospital, keeping his voice steady and offering vague details about his medical status.
“With the adrenaline, you’re calmer, but it doesn’t work for very long,” he said. “I probably had two to three minutes, and then that was going to wear off; the pain takes hold again, and I wouldn’t have been able to make that call.”
The injury: ‘I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to move these legs again’
Bedwell was transported by helicopter to the ICU, but those memories are hazy for him, as well, with brief moments of lucidity only to realize he was outfitted with a PICC line and several IVs.
As his extensive injuries were stabilized and doctors lowered his narcotic pain medicine, he was moved out of the ICU, where he was able to take stock of what had happened.
Bedwell sustained seven rib fractures, a nearly shattered right clavicle fracture, a T-7 spinal cord injury, T-8 spinal compression and a T-2 spinal injury without compression, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
When asked if he expects to walk again, Bedwell said is constantly asking his doctors the same question.
“They tell me that there’s no way you can really determine that,” he said.
But, based on the amount of time his spinal cord was compressed, Bedwell is hopeful for the future.
“The response of my department and the helicopter was really fast,” he said. “I am pretty positive that I’m going to have at least a moderate recovery. I think I’ll be able to walk to some capacity. Maybe not 100% normal, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to move these legs again one day.”
For now, all of Bedwell’s energy is focused on improving and getting home.
The recovery: ‘My type of people’
Once out of the ICU and stable, Bedwell was transferred to Craig Hospital, a specialty facility for individuals with traumatic brain injuries and spinal injuries. He was able to secure a spot despite a 95-person limit.
“Everybody had been talking about this place in particular, so this was my choice to go to,” he said. “I’m actually impressed by it. I had family that was skeptical about it – my father and my girlfriend – and both of them have come here, and they are impressed themselves.”
At Craig, Bedwell is able to participate in a variety of activities that help him become more independent while using a wheelchair, and that also set him up for improvement in his condition down the road.
One area of the facility contains a handicap-capable kitchen for patients to practice in, as well as a therapeutic session for leisure tasks.
“You might be just sitting there, playing a game of pool,” he said. “You might be gardening, or playing football, doing archery, bicycling; they have wheelchair bikes for us.”
The facility even instructs patients on how to get in and out of a car.
“They have a modified car course for us,” Bedwell said. “One of the things they’ll have you do is put your wheelchair in the car after you get in. So, you’ll learn how to take apart your wheelchair and set it in the vehicle with you.”
Bedwell’s competitive nature was piqued by one of the Craig’s offerings: rugby.
“They’ve got a wheelchair rugby team here,” he said. “I was like, ‘Man, I don’t really remember how rugby is played.’ Apparently, these people are really aggressive. They’re my type of people.”
Being at Craig has also allowed Bedwell to interact with other individuals working through similar injuries, and to get a sense of what his future could look like.
“People might be fearful about being paralyzed – a new onset paralyzed – just thinking that the world is lessened to them, but that’s not the case anymore,” he said. “There’s always something to do. The community of people with spinal cord injuries, everybody’s connected and everybody’s nice to each other, and they want to stick around because they know the struggle.”
The career: ‘It’s like a puzzle’
Bedwell’s EMS career had begun only one year prior to the crash and was initially meant to be a steppingstone to earning a degree as a physician’s assistant.
However, emergency medicine proved to be a calling he hadn’t planned on.
“I like the thought of figuring stuff out from the ground up,” he said. “Going into somebody’s house and starting the process of understanding what the illness was, or how to treat an injury.”
Every call was a complex problem he needed to unravel.
“I always looked at it like chess – everybody has some sort of issue, and you follow your protocol formula in figuring out what was going on,” Bedwell said. “It’s just like a puzzle.”
The plan: ‘Stay motivated’
Switching to a new industry is not in the cards; at least, not yet.
“It’s just a waiting game, right now, to see how well I recover,” he said. “If I can’t do the job again, I may be able to set up opportunities to teach a class. I don’t want to leave the field.”
Spinal cord injury recoveries vary, and it be could months or years before Bedwell could begin to see some, if any, improvement. But, for him, the hard work is worth it and he recommends anyone else starting out on the same path to be prepared to take it slow.
“You’re going to face a lot of hardship. Keep your family with you,” he said. “Stay motivated, because that’s the only way you’re going to improve on things.”
[Read more: Saving one of their own: FF-EMT’s close call highlights importance of not ignoring warning signs]
