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.