DENVER - Ben Meyerhoff started a recent Monday morning just like any other, checking his blood sugar levels, eating a breakfast high in protein, saying goodbye to his wife and children, and strapping into his road bike pedals for the commute into work at the University of Colorado Hospital.
Meyerhoff remembers the thoughts in his head as he cycled from his home in Aurora towards the Fitzsimons campus. It was during that ride he recalls looking forward to a craigslist appointment he scheduled later that evening where he planned to buy a set of crampons. The mountaineering tools were going to help him summit yet another 14'er in mid-December.
The meeting never happened.
"You only get one brain, and this is why everyone should always wear a helmet," said Ben, from the hospital bed inside the same hospital where he works.
It was on a chilly November 7 morning that Meyerhoff took his normal route to work, but he noticed that particular day, the timing of the street lights seemed off his normal pace. At an intersection he normally hits a red light at and stops, the light was green. Meyerhoff followed the traffic, tucked down for one slight moment to adjust his coat in the cold, and in that split second at full force speed, he slammed head-on into the back of an RTD trash collection truck.
"I was conscious the whole time, and I knew immediately I could not feel my legs," said Meyerhoff. His C6 and C7 vertebrae had been crushed, and his spinal cord severely injured.
In the weeks after the accident, Meyerhoff heard the term "quadriplegic," or the more commonly used newer term of "tetraplegic," many times, meaning he suffered paralysis of the limbs and torso.
He transferred to Craig Hospital in Englewood, a hospital that specializes in the rehabilitation and research of patients with spinal cord injuries. Meyerhoff met with a transition counselor who left materials which stated the average age of their patients is 38. Ben will celebrate that birthday in a few months.
Meyerhoff refuses to speak in terms of what he may never be able to do again, and instead focus on the odds he overcomes daily. Professionally, this is what Meyerhoff does for a living as the Practice Manager for UCH's Center for Integrative Medicine: Focus on improving the quality of life for his patients.
Ironically, that is the same goal his wife Erin Meyerhoff sets daily as a nurse practitioner and instructor in the Hospital's Department of Endocrinology.
"He knows he cannot go back and change it. He is moving on. He is not stuck in a rut," Erin said. "A lot of people get stuck in a rut for much smaller issues."
With three children under age six, the Meyerhoffs know that they have a long road ahead. In the time they were at University Hospital they said it was comforting to have a steady stream of colleagues and familiar faces tending to Ben's recovery and wellbeing at UCH.
"This is the most incredible group of people. It is family," Erin said.
While his wife continues to work full time and shuttle the kids to and from choir and other activity practices, Meyerhoff will be working hard in physical therapy every day. The University Hospital community, along with their own friends and family, has come together to help as much as possible with childcare, carpooling and expenses. The reality however, is that the most expensive days are ahead, as medical bills file into their mailbox right around the holidays, and as they begin assessing the retrofit of their home for the use of a wheelchair.
"Truly, the thing that scares me the most, is the day I leave Craig Hospital and go home," said Meyerhoff. The family lives in a two story home. There is clearly a lot of work that will need to be done.
In his time at Craig, Meyerhoff focused on how to return to work he loves in his role helping comfort patients at UCH.
He will also focus on achieving the goals he had before the accident, but in his new routine.
"If this is where I am and I want to be somewhere else, I'm not going to allow my attitude to get in the way, Ben said. "It would be wasted energy for me to be sad or upset. I want to use all my strength to get me to my goals," Ben said.
He has a clear vision of what that is.
"I will climb that mountain, I will find a way," he said.
"It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves," Meyerhoff said, citing his favorite quote by Sir Edmund Hillary.
To follow Ben Meyerhoff's journey and learn more about how you may help their family of five, visit www.benconquers.com.
University hospital has an event on Valentine's day called "Hearts of All Ages. This year the proceeds go to the Neurology and Neurosurgery Departments - Ben's doctor's departments. He says he is so grateful to the teams at both University and Craig Hospitals for the care he has received.
For more information on "Hearts of All Ages:
http://www.uch.edu/about/ways-to-give/hearts/
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