FRESNO, Calif. (KMPH) -
16-year-old Everett Carlson is all about dirt bikes. He was just 3 years old the first time he got on one. But on March 26th of this year, Everett didn't hit a jump right and it nearly killed him.
Physical Therapist Dr. Jennifer Crocker says, "He has a complete spinal chord injury which is the most severe."
Now this 16-year-old kid is paralyzed from the waist down.
Everett admits, "Whenever I'm laying in bed and stuff I keep trying to move my legs and hope eventually they actually move."
Everett spends hours a day in therapy at Children's Hospital Central California.
He says, "I like doing the weights, the working out part of it."
Dr. Crocker says, "I think anyone going through something as traumatic as what he did would be probably more shell shocked and nervous and anxious about what was to become of his stay here. And he really was brave, nervous a little bit, agitated, and he didn't really know what to expect."
Everett says, "There's not really any reason to cry about it cause it don't change anything."
Therapists at Children's help with physical challenges.
"How to sit upright without getting dizzy, how to move his body in bed in a completely different manner," explains Dr. Crocker.
And help get his mind around what's happening.
Dr. Crocker says, "It's probably the toughest challenge any one of us could imagine and he's hitting it head on right now."
Instead of modifying his dirt bike, he's building a customized wheelchair.
He tells the company's rep, "That's what I wanted was pearl white. There's a different one with a gas motor that I was looking at."
And that gave him an idea, "I want to start a business for handi-capable people. I always wanted to have my own shop but now I have to change it because it would suck to stare at dirt bikes all day and not be able to ride them."
He's still a kid; he's just having to grow up fast.
Dr. Crocker says, "He will be independent and he will do anything he wants to do. He will only be limited by how he can imagine how he can get that done."
