In Summer 2023, John Lesny Drake was attending Cadet Troop Leader Training with the U.S. Army Reserve at Fort Bliss, Texas. Having a few days off, John joined friends at a nearby lake. To cool off, John dived off the back of a boat into shallow water. John's head hit the sandy bottom, resulting in a spinal cord injury. As he floated to the surface, John realized he couldn't move or speak.
“I tried yelling out to my friend, who wasn't facing me, and I couldn't,” John says. “Not knowing it then, my diaphragm was also paralyzed.”
John arrived at Craig H. Neilsen Rehabilitation Hospital in April 2024 to receive advanced treatment of his C3 spinal cord injury.
“We shot for the best when looking for rehab centers,” John says. “And ever since I've been here, things have been just going great and improving every day.”
Brian Mitzman, MD, treated John. “With his injury, John was unable to use his diaphragm and breathe on his own,” says Mitzman, director of robotic thoracic surgery at Craig H. Neilsen Rehabilitation Hospital. “He needed a ventilator to breathe. We implanted a new device [diaphragmatic pacemaker] to stimulate the nerves controlling his diaphragm, allowing him to breathe on his own.”
.jpg)
“I can now drive my wheelchair without someone having to drag the ventilator behind me,” John says. “It makes life so much easier."
“What John has gone through is life-changing,” Mitzman says. “How great he's doing is a testament to his optimism.”
“I can't worry about the accident,” John says. “It's not going to undo itself. Your focus should be on getting better, not what happened before.”
