PUEBLO — Kenny White had to learn how to walk again after he was left paralyzed from a fall while playing with his two children. The Pueblo man was paralyzed on November 15th last year in his living room just before he and his wife, April, were about to put their two little girls to sleep.
"We had just got done with bathtime and dinner," said his wife April. "Daddy comes home, eats dinner really quick, and then the girls just they just want to play dance and play. He turns on the music and just gets them all riled up before bed."
White started to jump off the couch and fell forward hitting the ground.
"The couch broke under my feet, my feet got caught, and I slammed my head with full force," he said. "Couldn't get my arms out or anything. It happened so quick. Immediately I knew something was wrong. I didn't know how bad things were."
One of the vertebrae in his neck shattered. He says doctors called it a burst fracture. At the moment he didn't feel any pain.
"It was like an explosion right in my head," he said. "Then my whole body was just filled with an invisible energy barrier and I couldn't move anything. I knew things were really bad, because I thought my legs were in the air and asked (my wife) to put them down before anybody showed up, still hanging on to that pride that they're coming to get you to take you to the hospital, but I didn't want to look foolish. She says, 'No, honey your legs are on the ground.' And I was like, 'Oh my God, okay.' AMR showed up. got me to Parkview (Medical Center), got in a helicopter, got to Memorial Hospital and very rapidly went into surgery. It was pretty scary. They said, 'There's a good chance that you might not walk again, you might not make it through the surgery.'"
White recorded a message for his daughters from his hospital bed in case he did not survive. He said, "I love you little girl, the light of my life, you and your sister. Thank you for everything, thank you for being a part of my life. Thank you for making me smile."
The surgery lasted 11 hours. When he woke up he was able to move.
"Kenny was still coming off anesthesia and he was like, 'No, wait, doc let me shake your hand.' He sat up and put his hand out, shook the doctor's hand. He said, 'Thank you for saving my life."
The recovery was a long road. As his youngest daughter, Harper, was learning to walk, so was he.
As he fought to be able to walk again, he was also fighting another battle, an addiction to alcohol he says ended with the injury. It was an answered prayer for his family.
"My dad broke down to me one time and he said he almost felt guilty because he was praying for something to happen in my life to end this problem I had. I said, 'Don't feel bad. Don't, don't. I don't think God broke my neck but he gave me all the tools to come out of it as a better man, and a better father, a better son, better brother.'"
In a Facebook post six months after his injury White said in part:
I'm six months sober and will never put the people that love me in a situation again, where they have to watch me destroy myself one drink at a time.
God is good. I get better every day. My life is filled with amazing relationships that have grown and blossomed through my struggle.
I broke my neck and I got my life back.
Dianne Derby:You had to break your neck to save your life.
Kenny White: Yeah...alcohol had become a controlling factor in my life and I don't know why. That we'll look at that for a long time. Slowly, but surely, just like any insidious thing, kept growing, it's became more and more of a problem.
He credits much of his recovery success to his wife who never left his side.
April White: It's just hard to really puit into words how it really affected not only me and my girls but our whole family, his mom and dad, and sisters, and aunts and uncles, and friends. It's just this huge impact it's had on our whole lives.
Dianne Derby: It changed your life forever.
April White: Yes.
Now as dances with his daughters every chance he can get and gets back to playing in the backyard, he knows his second chance at life isn't one he'll take for granted.
Kenny White: I have things to do.
Dianne Derby: You have a lot of life left.
Kenny White: I've got a lot of time left.
Dianne derby: Yes.
Kenny White: And I'm not gonna waste it. I know that.
He's not wasting it. This video he posted on TikTok is helping to spread the word about a 5K race he's organized in Pueblo called the "Break Your Neck: Run, Walk, or Roll" to help people facing similar injuries. It will be held at the CSU Pueblo Thunderbowl on September 28th, 2024. Click herefor more information.
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