This content was created by Dr. John A. King. This content was uploaded by Dr. John A. King. This is a YouTube video titled "Rodger Horr Shares his one Shot Story with us" (created 2014-01-19T20:23:27Z). It contains an English, diarized interview-style conversation between Dr. John A. King and guest Roger Hall. Dr. King introduces Roger, who recounts a near-fatal car accident at age 19 (ruptured aorta), the emergency CPR and surgery that saved him, a multi-year rehabilitation, and how he went on to attend college, raise a family, and maintain fitness. The exchange centers on trauma recovery, resilience, gratitude, and advice to others facing major obstacles.
Chapters
I'm here with Roger Hall, and he's got a great one-shot story about something that happened in his youth and turning it around to really what could have been the end of his life to ending up living a very fulfilled life. So here's Roger Hall.
Well, when I was 19, I got in a car accident and ruptured my aorta and had some other damage, and I was very fortunate to make it through that situation. There was a woman that saw the accident and saw the sparks flying and gave me CPR until the fire department showed up. Wow. And got me to the hospital and they operated on me and I made it through that. You know, it took me like 5 years to rehabilitate, but I was able to go to college and get a degree and now I'm married and have a couple beautiful kids and Extremely blessed and fortunate.
What sort of things did you have to overcome in this process?
You know, confusion, the doctor saying you're never— telling my mom you're never going to get better. Yeah. How did that make you feel? You know, I guess I don't remember a lot, but at the time it made me feel very sad. I knew no one could stop me but myself. Exactly. So I worked really hard, and for a while I didn't— I don't think I really knew what I was doing. I wasn't— I didn't really pull all my power together to really pull things together, but by the grace of God, I was able to have the resources and the loving family and The inner drive to not give up.
What would you say to someone that's out there today that might be facing either an injury or an obstacle that seems too large for them to overcome?
Just never give up. I mean, we all have inner strength that's just phenomenal. Just don't give up. Don't settle. Don't let people tell you you can't do something. Or maybe that's good, I don't know. Maybe it's good to hear you can't do something. But I was very fortunate. I worked hard and I keep working out. You know, this was 25 years ago I got hurt and I just stay in the gym and these guys here are awesome and just stay in— try and stay in good shape.
