February 3rd - for most a day like any other. This date makes me think a little bit every year. And that for 12 years now. Exactly 4380 days ago today I broke my 6th cervical vertebra in a snowboarding fall and have been paraplegic ever since. I can still remember this day, which literally turned my life upside down, as if it were yesterday. I still remember oversleeping, hurriedly pulling my snowboard pants over my legs, quickly brushing my teeth while standing and going to the toilet as normal. I can still feel how out of breath I arrived at the valley station of the mountain railway, where my dad and brother were already waiting for me. I can still feel the snowboard under my feet, gently gliding across the snow. And I live through the moment when I hit the slope like a bullet with a dull thud. I see my vision go black and hear myself screaming for help, and the next moment I'm lying there. Completely motionless and emotionless. My body no longer there. As if only my head would be in the snow. I feel the fine ice crystals that the rescue helicopter blows in my face.
Yes, I relive these feelings every year. Whenever the 3.2. anniversary In the first few years after my accident, I celebrated this day. I considered it my 2nd birthday. Because yes, I could have died too. Just a few inches higher and my life would have ended abruptly with a broken neck. But nothing could have happened. On that day, I could have easily enjoyed a cup of tea after a nice day of skiing with the family and spent a few comfortable hours on the couch in the evening. So this anniversary has now become an almost normal day for me too, on which I'm just a little more thoughtful, reflecting and looking back. It's a date that will always remind me how quickly everything can change and that life is finite.
Therefore: live in the here and now!
