Is 7 minutes of ecstasy worth 20 minutes of agony?

At the end of October, on my 37th birthday, I decided to test this question by jumping out of a perfectly good plane at 13,000 feet.

My first skydive was about 6 years ago, prior to becoming paralyzed. I will never forget that day. At that time, I was dealing with some personal issues and was not in the best mental health. My brother and I drove up to Lincoln to go “solo” skydiving. I remember getting into the plane and instantly feeling an overwhelming sense of being claustrophobic. It’s not my first bout with claustrophobia. When you get in, they pack you in like sardines. The plane is unbelievably noisy, stuffy, and the pilot wears a parachute! For the inaugural jump, I was the last one in the plane, and the first one out. After making it to altitude, with my anxiety through the roof, it was time to jump. The second I stood on the edge of the plane, I did not have a worry in the world. When I let go, and started my free fall down to Earth, all of the issues I had been dealing with up to that point, instantly left my mind. I was living in the moment and that moment was pure joy. I was hooked.

Fast forward to last Sunday, now paralyzed, I decided to jump out of a plane once again. However, this time, it would be different. This time I knew the plane ride was going to be dreadful.

My brother and I had been talking about doing another jump, off and on over the previous few years. It just so happened to work out where I would be able to jump on my birthday, in one of the most beautiful places in the United States to skydive, Oceanside. On top of that, we picked the perfect day. The temperature was in the mid-80s, with only a few clouds in the sky. There was no wind, only a slight breeze. These were ideal skydiving conditions!

As previously mentioned, I now know what to expect from the plane ride. Some might say that that is a positive. For me, it was most certainly not. I had mentally freaked myself out before even getting on the plane. So, with that said, the 20-minute plane ride up to 13,000 feet was agonizing for me. Once again, I was the last one on, meaning I was the first one out. Also, as the last one on, you are seated right next to the door that everybody will be jumping out of. The whole plane ride up, I was literally within inches of the door. And of course, about halfway up, they decide to open the door to allow for some ventilation. As I’m sure you can guess, I was not a fan. With all of that said, I knew what was waiting for me once we made it to 13,000 feet.

My jumpmaster, Brandon, simply told me to not worry about anything and just have fun. I was confident with him, so my plan was to do just that. He rolled the door up, maneuvered our legs off the side of the plane, dangling over the beautiful, Southern California landscape, almost 2.5 miles below us. From there, we scooted over the edge.

At that point, the agony, anxiety, and claustrophobia instantly went away. I was now in a free fall, experiencing the rush of adrenaline. All of my worries instantly went away, just like they had 6 years earlier. I was living in the moment, as gravity did its work, plunging us towards the ground, at almost 120 mph. About 45 seconds later, the chute opened, and I could really start to take in the majestic view, that so few get to experience like this.

Five minutes later, we touched down, with a landing that I’m sure would have given us a perfect score at the Olympics. From there, I was thrown into a golf cart and taken back to reality. The whole adventure was only about 30 minutes.

I have to give a shout out to the team at GoJump Oceanside, especially to Brandon. The professionalism, organization, and confidence that you instilled did not go unrecognized. I would highly recommend this Drop Zone to anybody looking for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Now, that takes us back to the original question that started this whole post: Is 7 minutes of ecstasy worth 20 minutes of agony? And the answer is, I honestly don’t know. I wish I had the experience to just jump out of a hot air balloon and not have to deal with the plane ride. So, will I do it again? Who knows. But, if I do, it’s going to be in 3 years, on my 40th birthday. So, if and when that does happen, who’s coming with me?

Click below to watch my sky diving experience!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGZ-wdnAUrY&feature=youtu.be

Where were you four years ago today? For the vast majority of you reading this, I bet you have no idea. For me, I know exactly where I was.

To say that four years ago, my life changed forever would be an understatement. I feel like the whole “my life changed forever” gets thrown around quite often, for all sorts of different things. How many scenarios does that really apply to? How much did your life really change when you got fired from your job? How much did your life really change when you got married? How much did your life really change after having your first kid? I don’t want to discount that certain aspects of life might have changed, when certain things happen in our lives, but how many things actually change your life forever, ALL AT ONCE, and for the rest of your life?

I’m sure you can see where this is going… On April 17th, 2014, my life did indeed change forever, when I broke my neck diving off a boat. I’ve spoken about that incident numerous times but that is not what this particular article is about. This post is about one specific word. A word that gets thrown around a lot. A word that means many different things, to many different people. A word that civilizations have been going to war over since the dawn of time. A word that most people take for granted. A word that I wake up everyday and go to sleep everyday pining for – Independence.

As previously mentioned, independence means different things to different people. Over the next several months, leading up to the inaugural fundraiser for “IN THE NECK OF TIME” on Saturday, September 29th, I’m going to explore what this word means to me – and news flash, it’s got nothing to do with walking.

I will be touching base on some issues that I believe are integral to a true sense of independence. These issues are things that I feel might be overlooked by the general public and even the medical community. Topics will range from sex to transportation.

My goal in addressing these topics is to beat home the fact that for us, quadriplegics, particularly high-level quadriplegics, independence is what we are looking for. Throughout these posts, I will be sharing my thoughts, insights and experiences. I will by no means claim to be speaking for quadriplegics as a whole, let alone others who have sustained a spinal cord injury or who suffer from paralysis for any other reason. These posts are not meant to garnish sympathy or to be a pity party. It’s also not about me being negative or pessimistic; it’s just the reality of how I see life. I will simply be sharing information in the hopes that it will better educate you on the life I live. Really, what I would like to do is help provide some color to the line I hear all the time, “I can’t even imagine what it’s like…”

Over the coming months, I look forward to sharing with you. What I really look forward to is starting a conversation around these topics. And as a disclaimer, I will not be holding anything back as I discuss these topics, some of which are not easy to share.

It’s taken me four years to get to the point where I am comfortable enough to have this conversation. The progress updates on how I am doing, my physical recovery and more will be tabled. Moving forward, I want to help as many people as I can to regain as much independence as they can. The first step in doing just that is to educate you, the reader, on what this life really looks like.

So bear with me, as we go down this pathway into the life of Lane. It’s going to be informative, emotional, graphic (at times), and most certainly, sarcastic.

With the holidays right around the corner, I wanted to get this note out to each and every one of you, letting you know how grateful I am for your ongoing support. This is beyond a simple thank you but rather a heartfelt appreciation.

The 2nd Annual ‘Fuel The Fire’ was a great success, but it did fall short of the ambitious goal that I set out; however, with help from a dedicated committee and from your donations, we were able to raise close to $18,000! This amount will provide me with about half of the funds I need moving into 2018. Although the total raised was short of the goal, it’s still a large amount of money and I am humbled by the generosity of friends, family and complete strangers.

I encourage you to take a look at the highlight video from the event (huge thank you to Nick “Niranjan” Desphande and the team at Diamond Entertainment and Arts for putting this together). I’d like to give a big thanks to the committee for a well organized and successfully executed event. Click here to view the video.

In addition, I have some big news to announce! Since early on with this injury, it has been my wish to put together a nonprofit to assist others with similar injuries, primarily to contribute to their physical therapy. “In The Neck of Time” is officially a 501c3! As I plan for 2018, I will be gearing my efforts, time and fundraising towards this nonprofit and away from myself. We are brainstorming ideas for future fundraisers and would like to get your feedback on what you feel would be best. If you could please take a few minutes to answer the following three-question survey, it would be very much appreciated. Click here to take the survey.

Please mark your calendar for Saturday, September 29th, 2018 for the marquee event. We decided to move the big fundraiser to be held in September, as that is National Spinal Cord Injury Awareness month. Stay tuned for more information on this event, as well as others, as we take this from helping one individual to helping others.

I wish you all a Happy Holiday season. I’m looking forward to getting the ball rolling in the New Year!

Sincerely,
Lane Edwards