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My initial thought was not really to panic, but more so to get to land. I realized something
was wrong and I didn't know what. And I just wanted to get to land.
Nick Nolan, a graduating Senior at Hofstra University almost didn't graduate after a
serious emergency at Long Island's Jones Beach last summer. Nick was in the water with friends
when a wave slammed his head into the ocean floor, causing his spine to rupture on the
spot.
My friends thought I was horsing around. But luckily, my girlfriend kind of realized that
something was up. And she came running over and kind of helped me up a bit.
After being examined at the scene by lifeguards and paramedics, nick was airlifted to nassau
university medical center to receive emergency treatment on his spine. after nine days in
the hospital and having two titanium rods installed to brace the spine, the next step
for Nick, was recovery.
It was a very lengthy healing process of a spinal fusion and I was very very worried
about what I could do my last year of college.
Besides just having to worry about graduating on time, nick had to focus on the biggest
challenge for any film major.
I was very worried about my senior thesis. It was upcoming and it was a year long project
in which I had to write, direct, produce, and do all kinds of things to get this successfully
completed.
Despite facing the obstacles of learning how to move and walk again, Nick rose to the challenge.
It was a lot of physical therapy and a lot of caring and just relaxing and trying to
work with it and deal with it to overcome those obstacles and succeed at my goals.
Graduating from college in one week, Nick often takes the time to think about what this
experience has taught him over the past year.
After these events I've really realized that, I'm kind of grateful. When these kinds of
events happen to you, or to people around you, it really puts a lot of things in perspective.
And it opens up a lot of optimism. You really realize your friends and your family and the
value you hold in these other people's lives and what it means to them. And that really
keeps you going forward but it also really -- its very powerful. I would kind of go through
it again. Because it has taught me more than any schooling or anything I could have ever
done in my life. Its taught me more than any of that.