The doctor’s voice sounded muffled and far away as Rivka Shotkin blinked up at him from her hospital bed. “I’m afraid that the paralysis is permanent,” he said solemnly. “You will be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life.”
Rivka wanted to tell him he’d made a mistake. That she was only 15. This can’t happen. But before she could, the extreme fatigue from the sedatives won out, and the room slowly faded to black.
A new reality
Days earlier, on January 31, 2021, Rivka had gone skiing with her family. She’d happily zipped down the slopes several times, and as the afternoon wore on, the Passaic, New Jersey, high-schooler hated for the fun to end. So as her family prepared to leave, Rivka decided to go down the slope one more time, but this time, she missed a detour and skied straight into the thick branch of a tree!
For a moment, Rivka was stunned. Then, “Help me! I can’t move!” she cried out.
When ski patrol arrived, Rivka was airlifted to Albany Medical Center in New York, where doctors determined she had shattered multiple bones, punctured both lungs and severed her spinal cord. After emergency surgery, she and her parents were told the grim news that she was permanently paralyzed from the chest down.
At first, there was shock and disbelief, but when, soon after, Rivka was transferred to a rehabilitation center, the reality of her future set in.
This story is from the July 31, 2023 edition of Woman's World.
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This story is from the July 31, 2023 edition of Woman's World.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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