July 19th, 2023 —  State Hwy 89 Great Falls, Montana. A beautiful landscape of gentle, grassy, rolling hills. We’re headed for Glacier National Park on the cross-continent motorcycle ride of our dreams.

A large animal, presumably an antelope, appeared out of nowhere in my path.

SWERVE RIGHT! I hit the gravel on the shoulder and lost traction, sliding off the road. I find the grassy hillside is rockier than it looks.  I think to myself, “I can ride this out.”  Sadly, my right floorboard digs in. I black out as I am thrown from the bike over the handlebars and windscreen.

EMTs take action and I am whisked onto a helicopter to the hospital, where we learn my T5 - T7 vertebrae have been pushed out of place, T7 is fractured and there is a lot of swelling surrounding and crushing my spinal cord. I also have a big “pipe burn” blister all down the inside of my right calf. I am in athletic physical condition.  So surgeons can realign my bones and disks easily, installing a metal rod on each side of my spine T4-T9. 

After a month’s stint in ICU, recovery, and rehabilitation, we are sent home. I am paralyzed and incontinent.

Please send me all the love, prayers, and positive energy you got. Motivating messages of any kind are always needed and welcomed.  Rehab is now my full-time job. I need fuel and support to keep going

I am mostly confined to a wheelchair. The world is a very different place for me now. No more just walking around on uneven surfaces or in and out of doors. We have had to reorganize much of our house and many parts are inaccessible to me. All countertops are now at chin level. So everything I do at that level is up at my face which causes lots of stress on my shoulders and elbows. I can not take care of my own yard or clean my house. Everywhere I go is planned around potty breaks. I now have two full time jobs and more. Rick and I went from having a pretty decent income and being nearly debt free to a much reduced income and around $380,000 in debt. We have tightened our belts. I can not contribute the way I used to in our business. We have to pay others to do things I would have done before. Rick is so busy caring for me or picking up where I can no longer, we pay others to do things Rick used to do himself too. I could go on and on about how things have changed, the list is endless. Instead, I choose to focus on my new goals. I will raise the money for epidural stimulation surgery with stem cell therapy. I will be in excellent physical, mental and emotional condition so I can reap the full benefits of surgery and therapy.

Nerve pain is hard to describe, it comes and goes in waves. Sometimes my feet feel like they are on fire and sometimes they feel like frozen ice cubes. Most often they feel like a very very intense numb feeling. All these feelings are quite painful. I frequently have what feels like electric shocks or currents shooting up and down my legs. Thankfully, this aspect is not painful. All of this is, in fact, feeling which, I gotta believe, shows connection to my brain.

Spasms are a new and interesting creature. I have random and intense spasms below the injury. Sometimes they straighten me out like a board. Sometimes my knees bend and legs squeeze tightly together. Sometimes my midsection rolls like a ship on the sea. This spasm actually feels quite good and usually last 3-10 seconds.

The only really painful spasm is the one I call “My Monster.” My Monster has very strong, very long fingers with long, sharp nails. My Monster sneaks up behind me and GRABS my at my ribs hard and fast! My Monster is a demon. Luckily this spasm only lasts for a second or two.

Ironically, the stronger I get and more of my muscle I build back, the stronger and more intense my spasms get. It is a catch 22.

Verita Neuro patients universally report great improvements in both nerve pain and spasms.

The burning question everyone wants to know but is too polite to ask. They call it intermittent catheterization or “straight cathing”. While in my wheelchair, I lean hard from side to side to inch my pants over my hips and down my legs. Then I use a one-time-use catheter to empty my bladder into a container. At first I had to do it a lot, every 2-4 hours. In June I got Botox injections in my bladder to relax it. I have something called “Neurogenic bladder.” Now I can wait 5-6 hours between voids. Since the Botox, I can also feel better when I have to pee.

For #2, I transfer to a bathroom wheelchair that rolls over the toilet. Since I can’t feel my bowels at all, I really can’t tell when I have to poop. So I must be consistent taking myself to the toilet at the same time every day. Some days my bowels empty on their own and some days I must digitally stimulate.

I still have accidents from time to time. So I wear a brief most of the time or have a puppy pad under me if I am not wearing one.

Bladder and bowel control is one area that is universally improved upon with spinal cord stimulation. All the patients who I have spoken with have expressed that this one improvement was worth the price and effort of the procedure alone.

Hey man, the people want to know. At this point I can not feel touch sensation. However! I was happily surprised in November 2023 when my lower abdominal area did experience a very pleasant twitch when I touched my clit while preparing to pee. This new sensation has remained constant and gives me reason to believe that touch sensation will eventually return elsewhere. ; -)

Please send me all the love, prayers and positive energy you got. Motivating messages of any kind are always needed and welcomed. Rehab is now my full time job, and I need fuel and support to keep going!

Follow my personal profile as well as On My Feet and Beyond on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. More Followers and Likes will help attract bigger donors and possibly business sponsors. Please repost any and all of my posts on these pages to yours encouraging your friends to follow as well.

The doctors are careful with their language in regards to whether or not they think I will walk again. Results vary for everyone. They all tell me how much I heal is entirely up to me. However, many people, with lots of hard work and dedication to the physical therapy program, are able to take assisted steps and more.

I have talked with Verita Neuro reps and they said - because of my athletic background - that I am a good candidate. It also helps that I have been consistently attending physical therapy and am doing everything I can and more to prepare my body. I can only hope that my preparation and determination will help me get back on my feet!

I will schedule the surgery once I have raised the funds to pay for it. It will happen at the International Hospital in Guadalajara and will be performed by the specialized surgeons and team at Verita Neuro. It's a five-week program that starts with surgery and stem cell therapy. Then intensive physical therapy for the rest of the stay. It's specifically designed for SCI survivors. Verita Neuro's flagship clinic is in Bangkok, Thailand. They have two other clinics in Guadalajara, Mexico, and Calgary, Canada. The Canadian clinic is for rehabilitation and training only. They also responsibly cultivate their stem cells on-site in Bangkok and Guadalajara.

Yes! Celeste is partnered with Help Hope Live 501c3. Help Hope Live is an established medical expense fundraising charity organization supported by businesses such as Walgreens, United Access, Abilities Expo and more. They are well respected in the medical fundraising world. We are very excited to have their support, and support them in return!

As of November 2024, Celeste’s profile on Help Hope Live is active. All contributions, cash or gifts in kind, made through Help Hope Live are tax deductible. Please note that when you donate, you will be donating to the Southwest Catastrophic Injury Fund on behalf of Celeste. Help Hope Live will then use funds from the Southwest Catastrophic Injury Fund to support Celeste when she receives spinal cord stimulation surgery.

Click donate in the upper right-hand corner of this page to be redirected to Celeste’s Help Hope Live profile.