An hour alone, an inviting tree and a little drowsiness combined to change Andrew Arnold's life forever.
Three years ago the sophomore music education major was paralyzed after he fell 40 feet from a tree, where he'd fallen asleep reading his Bible. A student who'd set swimming records for Gordon was told he had a 2 percent chance to walk again.
Today, he's not only walking with a cane, he's back working with the swim team. The remarkable recovery was no surprise to Arnold, who's convinced there's a reason for his accident.
“God didn’t put this in my life,” said Arnold, “but He is going to use it.”
In 2007, Arnold came to Gordon at age 18 from Farmington, Utah. The accident happened during his sophomore year while camping with his Discovery class in the White Mountains on their required weekend camping trip.
During his assigned solo hour, Arnold wondered what he could do to keep from getting lost or bored. Then he noticed the tree.
Arnold, an experienced rock climber, didn't think twice. He climbed the tree, found a spot 40 feet above the ground and opened his Bible to read. But soon, he fell asleep. The next thing he knew he was looking up; the top of the tree was fading to the distance.
“I remember thinking, ‘Holy crap, I’m falling!’” he said.
Arnold hit a branch before being knocked out, but he gained consciousness seconds after he hit the ground.
Arnold was trained in first aid after working as a lifeguard for five years and immediately tested his fingers. They wiggled. His toes didn’t.
“I had no fear or nervousness, really. I just thought to myself, ‘Ok, I broke my back,” he said. “I knew I had my mind. I knew I had my arms. So I was immediately grateful.”
His friend, Greg Hijeck ’11, was 70 yards away, reading his own Bible when he heard the branches snap.
“What I remember most distinctly was the loud crack of not just one, but multiple branches cracking as Andrew fell,” Hijeck said. “And of course there was the yell of desperation he let out.”
Hijeck ran to see Arnold laying on rocks, his body half in a stream and able to speak only a labored, "Help me." Hijeck blew his whistle three times to summon help.
Arnold was taken to Littleton Regional Hospital’s Emergency Center in New Hampshire, where he asked the doctor his chances of walking again. Arnold recalled that the doctor coldly looked him in the face and said, “You have a 2 percent chance of walking.”
“I immediately thought, ‘you’re wrong,’” Arnold said. “People tell me that they admire me for my determination, but I was just being stubborn.”
Arnold maintained composure on the phone with his parents and best friend after the accident. However, when he was told that his older sister, Katharine, then a fifth-year senior at Gordon, was on her way to the room, reality hit. He broke down.
The injury looked to have taken not only his legs; it took a huge part of his life. Arnold has been swimming competitively since his sophomore year in high school. His senior year of high school, he placed fifth in the state in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle races and second in the state for the 400-yard freestyle relay.
His freshman year at Gordon, Arnold set the current record for the 50-yard freestyle race (22.71) and qualified for the New England Championships.
Swim Coach Skip Milne received the devastating phone call about Arnold's injury on the team bus on the way back from a meet.
“When we heard the news, we were all shocked,” said Milne. “Swimming was the last thing on my mind. On the bus, as a team, we went right into prayer.”
The injury was a fracture dislocation in his spine, leaving Arnold paralyzed from the waist down. He also had a blood clot on the site of the fracture, which was blocking his nerve flow. Arnold was soon transferred to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, where surgery was immediate. Arnold had two titanium bars set along either side of his spine with four stabilizing hooks.
"Being paralyzed is a strange feeling," Arnold said.
“It feels like there’s an elephant on your legs,” he said. “Nothing moves.”
But progress during his recovery was quick. Only a week after the accident, Arnold began to gain light sensation in his body. He was then transferred to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston. Two and a half weeks after the accident, he wiggled his big toe.
After five weeks at Spaulding, Arnold continued outpatient rehab at Neuroworx, a center specialized in spinal cord injury recovery in Utah. Arnold watched many older patients who, after accidents like his, had grown bitter and angry. From the first day of rehab, Arnold made a conscious effort to have fun.
One of the first things Arnold asked his doctor was when he could get back into the pool.
It took a while, but with the new year, Arnold’s first return to the pool, this time with a back brace. He was unable to kick his feet, rotate his hips or tread water at all.
“It was really weird; not enjoyable at all,” he said.
Arnold, though still very limited in fine motor control of his lower half, is now able to walk with a cane and drive without aid.
His plans might have changed since 2008, but he has not lost his determination.
Since the accident, Arnold has competed in a wheel chair in two Ragnar Relays. He’s also completed a Thanksgiving Day 10K race and Beverly’s 5k Reindeer Run. He plans to compete in an Iron Man and a triathalon in the future. Arnold wants to compete in paraplegic athletic events as well. His goal is to qualify for the 2016 Paralympic swim team.
“I’m working my handicap into my life,” said Arnold, “I’m not working my life into my handicap.”
This season, though he’s not competing, Arnold is back on the swim team. He considers the social benefits equal to the physical ones.
“I’m doing it because it’s the closest thing I can do to what I’ve done before,” he said.
Kristen Entwistle ’12, a Chemistry/Biology major, swam on the Gordon team with Arnold her freshman year.
“It's been awesome to see Andrew get back in the pool and swim with the team,” she said. “He's brought a new leadership and has pushed many of us to work harder.”
Milne said Arnold's return has been nothing but positive.
“Once a member of the swim team, always a member,” he said.
Looking back on the past four years, there were times in his recovery when Arnold felt angry or depressed, but he never doubted God’s sovereignty.
Arnold has been surprised at the level of support from the Gordon community. Before his accident, he struggled to socialize with others. He was introverted, and some people found that intimidating. The accident caused him to be more open with others.
“It’s been really humbling to have people I don’t know walk up to me and tell me how encouraged they are by me walking,” said Arnold. “I don’t know how to respond.”
“People tell me, ‘I could never handle that like you can.’ I laugh,” he said. “No one can say that unless they’re in a situation that is difficult.”
