My Story
On March 15, 2010, I was 22 years old and riding as a passenger in a coworker’s car when we lost control at 60 MPH on a 25 MPH back road, rolled, and hit a telephone pole hard enough to break it in two. I wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. The accident left me with two breaks in my neck: a hairline fracture at C1 and a partial crushing at C5. I was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where I spent weeks heavily sedated in the ICU working through a serious set of complications, including a tracheotomy and extended breathing difficulties. I eventually came to enough to be told what I’d been afraid to ask: I was a quadriplegic.
The good news, looking at it optimistically, was that my spinal cord wasn’t completely severed. Over time I regained feeling from head to toe, though I can’t distinguish between sharp and dull sensations and can’t feel temperature below my chest. I also regained a small amount of movement in my left thumb and some trace movement in my left leg, foot, and ankle. It doesn’t sound like much, but that thumb would end up meaning everything.
My family was incredible through all of it. My parents had been divorced for over 10 years and came back together for my sake. My mother was at the hospital practically every day. My dad, who happened to be back in town when the accident occurred, stepped up to become my full-time caregiver. My brother took leave from the Navy to come see me. I couldn’t have gotten through it without them.
Getting Back to Life
After leaving the hospital and going through rehab, I eventually settled back home with my parents. We had a house built on the family property that was better suited to my needs. Once I was settled in, I knew I didn’t want to spend my life sitting still. Through a vocational rehabilitation program, I took an aptitude test that pointed me toward engineering, and I enrolled at my local community college.
Engineering as a quadriplegic is, to put it plainly, very hard. Engineering by itself is very hard. The combination was a real adventure. Early on I discovered I could grip a pencil with just enough movement in my left thumb to write, even if it looked rough at first. I leaned into it. It took me much longer to complete assignments than other students, but I think working through problems slowly and deliberately actually helped me absorb the material. For exams the school gave me extended time, and I made it work. Four years and a lot of coffee later, I graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Finding My Way into Tech
After graduating I spent a couple of years as an unpaid intern at Beck Engineering, working on real projects and gaining valuable experience, even if the pay situation left something to be desired. During that time I discovered a genuine interest in programming and started taking courses at the University of Washington Tacoma toward a master’s degree in computer science.
COVID interrupted the start of that program, but I used the time to finish my prerequisites and, as it turned out, to meet my future wife Samantha. With her support I applied to and was accepted into the master’s program at UW. I graduated specializing in data science and machine learning.
Where Things Stand Now
After more than a year of searching after graduation, I landed a position as an Inside Sales Engineer at AST in July 2025. With help from the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, I was also able to transition to Medicaid for Workers with Disabilities, which finally allowed me to build a career without losing the support I depend on.
On the personal side, Samantha and I started a family with the help of IVF. Our first son Mason was born in January of 2024, and we recently had our second child Hudson in February of 2026.
It has been a long road with a lot of detours, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything it gave me.