Welcome to my page. My name is Michael. You may also know me by my nickname "Bucky" or my internet handle "Muzacadik." I am a 18 year old guy from North Carolina. I have been in a wheelchair for 4 years now. I am paralyzed from the chest down(T4). I have no sensation or movement from about the bottom of my breast bone down.
It all started on the morning of March 9, 1995. I woke up and started getting ready for school, just like any other day(little did I know what was to come). I sat down on the couch to eat breakfast and my chest started hurting really bad. It felt like cigarettes burning me at nipple level all the way around my chest and back. I started feeling sick from the pain and went to the bathroom to throw up but I couldn't. On the way back to the couch from the bathroom I could feel my legs getting wobbly. I lied back down on the couch and within 15 minutes or so, I couldn't move or feel anything from my chest down. My parents took me to the hospital hoping it was just a pinched nerve or something. When we got there, the first doctor I seen was just an "on-call" doctor in the ER. He had no idea what was wrong so he called in a neurologist. The neurologist came in and examined me and went into the hall with my mother. I heard my mom start crying and I knew something was wrong but didn't know what. The neurologist told my mom that my spinal cord was severed. He wasn't real sure, so they sent me to a larger hospital nearby in an ambulance. The doctors at the larger hospital diagnosed me over the phone on my way to the hospital. They diagnosed me with Transverse Myelitis(TM).(To learn more about TM click here.) I spent about a week in the hospital and went into a rehabilitation center. I spent about a month and a half in rehab learning to take care of myself, to get around in a wheelchair, and about spinal cord injuries and their restrictions.
I had led the average life of any average person up to this point and I still live as "normal" of a life as possible. I am a senior in high school and plan to go to college and study Occupational Therapy. I enjoy using the computer, some recreational sports, and especially music. I listen to almost any kind of music. Oh, and I am very open about my life so feel free to ask any questions you have...
