 Hometown:
Warren, RI
Injury Date: February
9, 2007
Diagnosis: C-5
Pat's Story:
Friday February 9, 2007 was a cold morning, a light
dust of snow drifted on the ground as Pat McNally
made it into work. It was 6:25 a.m. when he arrived
at Local 51, where he was a Steamfitter 3rd Generation.
He had his usual cup of coffee and sat around the
shop with the guys laughing and talking and mentally
preparing for the day to come. Around 7:50, Pat
was pulled from the shop by a forklift driver to
lend a hand with a 10 inch schedule 80 pipe which
measures out at 22 feet. The forklift speared the
pipe, lifted it and Pat guided it and begin to load
it into the pipe rack. Minutes later he opened his
eyes and was starring at his right arm. He ran a
personal systems-check of himself and realized that
nothing was moving.
Pat was then rushed to Rhode Island Hospital unconscious,
where he spent 19 days. There, he learned nothing
about his condition, and it was a very short time
before he was sent to Spaulding Rehabilitation Center
in Massachusetts. Pat would spend the next 7 ½
months at Spaulding and it was tough being away
from his family and friends. It was even tougher
not knowing the severity of his injury. Very determined,
he would work very hard to rehabilitate, and his
work ethic was noticed by a certain doctor in the
facility. He was diagnosed with a C-5 injury and
would be paralyzed from the chest down with some
arm movement, but this doctor noticed something
different in Pat’s spirit. He told Pat: “If
you continue working like you are working, by my
age (44) you will walk again.” Through
research online, they were able to find information
on exercise based recovery. However, Pat was a
bit nervous about the idea. He didn’t want
to be away from his family for another long period
of time, and he was excited to find that Journey
Forward would be a place where he could go and
still live at home. Since he started he has noticed
an increase in truck control, arm strength, and
is getting better in his activities of daily living.
His short term goals include: getting into a power
assist chair, and no longer using an internal
baclofen pump. Pat’s states; “Journey
Forward will help you in more than just the physical;
mentally you look forward to coming to the facility.”
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