Blink. Blink. Blink. The cursor on your monitor flashes at you expectantly, almost impatiently. Suddenly you are five years old again, and your mom is standing in the doorway with her hands at her hips, tapping her toe like only a late mother can, as you frantically stuff the Lego’s she "told you to start…
Author: Kenny Salvini
A quadriplegic since 2004 after a snow skiing accident left me paralyzed from the neck down, I have spent the majority of the last decade searching for a sense of purpose. In the summer of 2005, my blog, titled "Typical Guy, Atypical Situation", was featured on the MSN homepage and became somewhat of a viral hit, which led to a few small collaborations with Microsoft. After taking a five-year sabbatical from the website in 2007, life's trajectory seems to be leading me back in that general direction as I look to create opportunities for people in situations similar to mine to share their stories. My hope is to build a community where a group of people in seemingly dire circumstances are able to pool their collective experience, strength and hope in order to successfully achieve an enhanced, more accessible life.
Health-Scare
A nurse mentions surgery as my consciousness quickly fades. Most of the next week or so is blurred by a morphine haze. I wake up in a neck brace, and realize I have absolutely no feeling below my armpits. The muscles in my neck are on fire with pain. I have a feeding tube in…
Make your mark
So I was sitting in my hospital room the other day, high on a cocktail of morphine and Ativan (breakfast of champions), when my buddy Big Jim walked in. Yep, you read correct… my hospital room. Around 11 o’clock one Saturday last month, I started to get the chills, but didn’t think much of it. Just…
The best man
It was a warm spring afternoon during the spring of my sophomore year as I wandered in to Hebeler Hall on the southwest corner of Central Washington University. My mission? To apply for acceptance into the Electronics Engineering Technology (EET) major. My motivation? Not exactly academic: I was about to enter my third season of…
Credit where it’s due
I have a confession. I’m not fully responsible for all the content of this blog. Don’t get me wrong, the words are all mine, no one else’s…. it’s just the subject matter I can’t claim as all my own. By now you’ve noticed that most of my stories have some sort of inspiration behind them. My…
I think I want a blog
A friend said that to me a year ago today. Blog… blog… the term seemed vaguely familiar. Where had I heard it before? Weren’t “blogs” those Dutch wooden shoes? No wait, “Blög” was the name of that entertainment center that I saw in the IKEA catalog last week, right? She laughed. When she told me…
Somewhat perturbed
I’m extremely bored and slightly annoyed at the moment. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m completely over-thinking my writing lately, and it would be easier for me to do a back flip than get out a complete thought these days, I don’t know. I find myself wondering if the true reason I’m so frustrated is…
A kind request
Just a quick note to anyone that is planning to visit me anytime soon. Could you do me a favor next time you’re here? Pet my damn dog, would ya? I mean, seriously… she’s almost 17 years old, completely deaf and pretty much blind. What’s worse, she’s riddled with arthritis, and my parents decided to…
Guardian angel
A little over two years ago, tragedy struck my family in the form of a skiing accident. With one crash landing, life went from a calm walk in the park to a whirlwind of chaos and pain. As I laid there, confused and terrified in a hospital bed, my family was wracked with grief and…
A not-so-quick shout out
Yes, i just used the term “shout out”. Don’t judge. Moving on… Looking back, I can honestly say I’m proud of my achievements in wrestling. I was a scholarship collegiate athlete, a four-year starter in the NCAA, and came within inches of being crowned All-American. Granted, it was barely a quarter scholarship, I didn’t start…
Kenny Salvini 