This was one of the last pictures taken of John before the accident, he tells the story in his own words......

It was a beautiful sunny morning at Topsail Beach on August 22^nd, 2005. My 7 year old son, Chase, and I were having fun playing in the surf on his new boogie board. My wife Marci and 5 year old daughter had not made it onto the beach yet.  I pushed Chase on his board and watched as he rode a wave unto the shore. Chase began playing in the sand. I turned and waded into the ocean. I saw a wave swelling and approaching. From a standing position in the surf, I dove over the wave and it unexpectedly maneuvered my body causing me to hit head first on the ocean floor. Immediately upon impact, I felt my entire body go limp and was unable to move anything from the neck down. Face down, I floated to the top of the water. I knew no one had seen what had happened and my mind was racing on what to do. I knew I could do nothing, except try to hold my breath as long as I could. I remember having thoughts of overwhelming sadness, as I felt I was going to die and leave my wife and children behind. After holding my breath for as long as I could, involuntarily, I began to inhale ocean water. At the point where I thought I was going to pass out, I felt my body roll onto my back, allowing me to catch a breath of air. After a couple of seconds I felt my body being tumbled around in the water by the waves. I ended up on my back, feeling the sand in very shallow water. My first thought was that I could not believe that I had survived without drowning. The waves however, continued to crash atop of me. I lay in the surf unable to move or speak. I tried to call for help but nothing came out. My fear at this point was that the surf would pull me back out into the ocean or I would get flipped onto my stomach in the shallow water.  I was just lying there and then saw my son, Chase, appear over me. I tried to tell him to go get help, but again, nothing would come out. I felt like Chase might have thought I was playing because he was smiling as he stood over me. After some time, Chase must have realized that something was wrong and he walked away. I continued to lay there and I had no idea where Chase went. After a few minutes I saw my wife appear over me asking if I was ok. My wife went running down the beach screaming for someone to call 911 and to come and help. The next thing I knew I was being airlifted by helicopter to New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, NC. There the doctor told me that I had a hairline fracture in the C-1(1^st cervical vertebrae) and had shattered the C-5 (5^th cervical vertebrae) causing damage to my spinal cord. A week later I was flown to Shepherd Catastrophic Spinal Cord Hospital in Atlanta, GA, where I was inpatient and underwent 2 months of physical therapy. I was then transferred to the Veterans Spinal Cord Hospital in Augusta, GA, where I received 2 more months of physical therapy as an inpatient. My official diagnosis is C-6/ASIA B/Quadriplegic. Currently I have function of biceps and shoulders, but nothing else from the chest down.

The main goal of the fundraising efforts is to cover the cost of our medical expenses. We had originally planned to save up for a experimental surgery in Portugal, but have found a new program we hope will give some positive results without surgery. Project Walk® is based out of Carlsbad, CA (near San Diego) and is a non-profit organization focusing on research and therapy for spinal cord injuries. We are moving to California to begin therapy immediately and are excited to see what will happen. The program we are entering will take us as long as John continues to show progress, there is no set time frame. To learn more about the program please visit www.projectwalk.org.

Thanks again to all who have supported us!

In the future our family will Pay it Forward to help someone in need…..