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 Hometown:
Malden, MA
Injury Date:
August 6, 1989
Diagnosis:
C4-5 Complete
Liri's Story:
It was a dive into the beautiful Adriatic Sea that
Liri had taken many times before. He had no reason
to believe that this particular one would change
his life profoundly.
Growing up in Albania, Liri would often spend his
summer days as a teen hanging with friends at Durress
Beach. Playfully, he liked to get a running start
down the shoreline followed by an acrobatic entry
into the water. This time however, things would
go terribly wrong. Somehow, Liri didn’t get
the right jumpstart and could not rotate properly
during his summersault. It was a shaky jump which
proved to be fatal. His neck was crushed from the
impact with the seafloor. Liri ended up lying face-down
in the water, motionless but conscious. He held
his breath for what seemed like an eternity as he
awaited help.
Miraculously, help did arrive two minutes later
in the form of Liri’s friends. A bystander
on the shoreline had witnessed Liri’s dive
and noticed that he hadn’t surfaced. Calling
attention to Liri’s friends, they immediately
dove in to help their friend.
“My friends saved my life,” says Liri.
Rushed to the nearest critical care center, he was
greeted by a 70-year old doctor who asked him to
attempt movement in his limbs, a diagnostic test
which Liri could not perform. With a tear in his
eye, the doctor lamented the worst possible news.
The x-ray showed that Liri’s neck had been
separated at C4-5 roughly by a centimeter. With
just three days to live, he was essentially left
for dead having only intravenous support and no
other aid.
However, Liri would defy the odds yet again. He
would survive this traumatic ordeal. He would also
look ahead to a day when he would regain normalcy.
Twenty months later, he traveled to Greece for a
fusion operation whereby bone from his right hip
was successfully transplanted to the site of his
injury. After nearly two years, Liri’s neck
was finally stabilized.
Liri came to the U.S. in 1992 in pursuit of that
vision to regain the quality of life he’d
once taken for granted. But like many others in
his predicament, initial therapy would prove limited
in its effectiveness. His nine weeks at the Spaulding
Rehabilitation Center, though efficacious from an
occupational standpoint, had only progressed Liri
to a point of functionality while seated in a chair.
It wasn’t until just recently that another
of Liri’s devoted friends, Tony, came across
Journey Forward in his investigations.
Since March of 2008, his friends and family have
noticed a marked increase in upper body movement
and strength, something which has been very encouraging
to all involved (staff included).
“I like progress no matter how small,”
states Liri.
Even after 18 years of living with this tremendous
injury, Liri’s spirit is unharmed. He’s
determined to be able to stand up from his chair.
More than that, as an accomplished independent screen
writer and film producer he would someday soon like
to shoot a film in Albania, recalling some of his
own life story and the desire of an entire young
generation for a better future.
“I like to tell good life stories. Good stories
need moving images.”
We at Journey Forward agree.
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