NOT MY TIME, Gary's Incredible Journey.

WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:18.960
Music.

00:00:18.808 --> 00:00:23.968
Hello and welcome to Why Is It So? I'm your host, Paul Zanuck,

00:00:24.128 --> 00:00:30.708
and today I have the pleasure of speaking to a man who I think has more than nine lives.

00:00:31.328 --> 00:00:36.548
Gary Pacelli lives in Warwick in upstate New York, approximately 100 kilometres

00:00:36.548 --> 00:00:38.288
from New York City, New York.

00:00:38.448 --> 00:00:43.068
He has been a law enforcement officer for most of his life, from county jail,

00:00:43.308 --> 00:00:45.628
motorcycle officer, county detective.

00:00:45.628 --> 00:00:51.708
He was assigned to a gang and narcotics task force, drug enforcement administration,

00:00:52.108 --> 00:00:55.568
police academy drill instructor, a certified commercial diver,

00:00:55.768 --> 00:00:57.728
a U.S. Marine, and also worked for the FBI.

00:00:58.388 --> 00:01:01.808
Gary was awarded two of the highest medals in law enforcement,

00:01:02.068 --> 00:01:04.648
the Legion of Honor and the Combat Cross.

00:01:04.908 --> 00:01:09.608
Twice he came close to death, once in the execution of arresting a drug dealer,

00:01:09.728 --> 00:01:15.748
and he spent some months in hospital and second time while skydiving when his

00:01:15.748 --> 00:01:21.908
chute came out hard a mile high in the sky with a broken neck and he became a paraplegic.

00:01:22.168 --> 00:01:25.048
Three months in hospital not knowing if he would ever walk again.

00:01:25.288 --> 00:01:27.088
When he left hospital after the

00:01:27.088 --> 00:01:31.768
drug dealer incident at the age of 36 Gary retired from law enforcement.

00:01:32.288 --> 00:01:37.508
He worked for the police academy for a while and then for the FBI for some time after that.

00:01:37.708 --> 00:01:41.988
Nine years later, Gary started to get fit again, and at the age of 51,

00:01:42.268 --> 00:01:44.308
he got his skydiving license.

00:01:44.688 --> 00:01:50.628
Then, two years and 285 solo sky jumps later, at the age of 53.

00:01:51.208 --> 00:01:55.908
Gary fell out of the sky and hit the ground, becoming a paraplegic.

00:01:56.188 --> 00:02:00.408
Today, he is taking us on the journey of crash landing on his head,

00:02:00.568 --> 00:02:02.988
because he had no control from the neck down.

00:02:02.988 --> 00:02:07.748
So, relax, enjoy and hear it from the man who not only survived,

00:02:07.788 --> 00:02:13.428
but he made his first jump again after five months from the time he left hospital.

00:02:13.748 --> 00:02:20.668
Gary has written a book, Not My Time. It covers his life, the good times and the bad times.

00:02:20.888 --> 00:02:24.748
He has also generously sent me some copies to give away.

00:02:25.028 --> 00:02:30.708
But if you are interested, please either email us or request and your postal

00:02:30.708 --> 00:02:32.808
address or go to our website.

00:02:32.988 --> 00:02:35.428
The book is also available from Amazon.

00:02:35.967 --> 00:02:41.107
Gary, thank you for having a chat with us about that fatal day. Quite interesting.

00:02:42.187 --> 00:02:45.987
I used to go around saying I was lucky. Every time I said that I was lucky,

00:02:46.047 --> 00:02:48.867
because I've had to tell a story about it a thousand times, right?

00:02:49.147 --> 00:02:53.407
Yeah. And so I felt guilty every time I said lucky, because I knew I wasn't

00:02:53.407 --> 00:02:55.507
lucky. I had help. It wasn't luck.

00:02:56.567 --> 00:03:01.347
There's no doubt. Right before I hit the fence, I prayed. There's no surviving that.

00:03:02.507 --> 00:03:06.787
There were so many things that happened that were not. It was just too many to be a coincidence.

00:03:07.127 --> 00:03:11.207
Like, you know, I had the wind pushing me. So I was supposed to overshoot the

00:03:11.207 --> 00:03:13.027
drop zone, really, and keep going.

00:03:13.187 --> 00:03:17.587
But as I was being pushed with the wind at my back, I caught a breeze that turned

00:03:17.587 --> 00:03:19.387
me around right into the wind.

00:03:19.407 --> 00:03:23.487
So it turned me into the wind, like I would do a normal landing.

00:03:23.647 --> 00:03:27.787
So that slowed me down. And then I hit the fence, which absorbed the impact,

00:03:28.047 --> 00:03:30.527
right? So all these things, like I started to think about it,

00:03:30.607 --> 00:03:35.947
and I'm like, wow. You know, like, even like, you know, making it back to the, to the drop zone.

00:03:36.307 --> 00:03:40.327
Right. Had I just floated off, whatever. Well, that saved my life because I

00:03:40.327 --> 00:03:43.607
saved all that time for them to have to go and find me. Right.

00:03:43.867 --> 00:03:46.667
So, you know, they would have taken them a couple hours to find me.

00:03:46.847 --> 00:03:49.087
And then by the time they got me to the hospital, then surgery.

00:03:49.427 --> 00:03:53.887
So, you know, by making it back, saved all that time. And then the army guys

00:03:53.887 --> 00:03:55.447
were there and they were so trained.

00:03:55.867 --> 00:04:00.107
Like they just got me all set up and ready to go and onto the helicopter,

00:04:00.307 --> 00:04:03.387
you know? So I was in perfect hands, you know?

00:04:04.007 --> 00:04:08.187
Just to get that in sort of perspective, can you go back to how you happened

00:04:08.187 --> 00:04:09.447
to be on that particular plane?

00:04:09.527 --> 00:04:12.527
Because according to your book, you weren't supposed to be on that plane with

00:04:12.527 --> 00:04:15.267
the soldiers. Amara? No.

00:04:15.687 --> 00:04:19.547
See, because the first day I jumped there, I showed up, and there was nobody

00:04:19.547 --> 00:04:20.967
there. It was just me, you know?

00:04:21.327 --> 00:04:24.607
Yeah. So I've got to put a plane up just for me, you know, obviously.

00:04:24.867 --> 00:04:27.907
So I didn't really care. It happens all the time. It's not a big deal,

00:04:28.007 --> 00:04:33.327
right? And, you know, in skydiving, you're used to waiting for the wind to change, you know.

00:04:33.727 --> 00:04:36.127
So I have my gear. I walk into a hangar.

00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:39.740
That i thought the hangar was for fun jumpers right so

00:04:39.740 --> 00:04:42.420
you know a fun jumper is a guy like me i'm not i'm not

00:04:42.420 --> 00:04:45.300
in the military i'm not an instructor i'm just jumping for fun so i

00:04:45.300 --> 00:04:48.620
walk into the hangar and i dropped my gear and i

00:04:48.620 --> 00:04:51.740
noticed there's a bunch of guys standing there like staring

00:04:51.740 --> 00:04:54.740
at me you know yeah i'm like hey how you doing whatever

00:04:54.740 --> 00:04:57.860
you know we started talking and they were in the army stationed

00:04:57.860 --> 00:05:00.660
at a fort bragg and they had contracted a

00:05:00.660 --> 00:05:03.580
plane for training for the day all right yeah

00:05:03.580 --> 00:05:06.360
so we were talking and you know we hit it off

00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:09.680
whatever and they invited me to take a ride

00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:14.460
on their plane so i jumped all day with them you know i did six jumps that day

00:05:14.460 --> 00:05:19.620
so they knew exactly where i was supposed to be yeah so now the next day i jump

00:05:19.620 --> 00:05:24.460
on the plane and it's the army guys and it's mixed with guys like me you know

00:05:24.460 --> 00:05:26.680
just normal people so they got that.

00:05:27.460 --> 00:05:31.280
So when they do the, the army guys, they put them first and let them get out

00:05:31.280 --> 00:05:33.580
first and everybody else goes, it goes and does their thing. Right.

00:05:33.820 --> 00:05:39.200
So they landed quickly and they, they noticed that like, what, what am I doing?

00:05:39.380 --> 00:05:42.260
You know what I mean? Like, I'm like, I'm going back and forth.

00:05:42.460 --> 00:05:46.700
Right. And they're like, they knew I wasn't supposed to be on that side of the airport anyway.

00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:50.760
Cause it wins. Right. So they, you know, they looked up in binoculars and they

00:05:50.760 --> 00:05:51.900
saw it, my arms were dangling.

00:05:52.060 --> 00:05:55.040
Right. So they, they jumped in a truck and basically followed me, you

00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:57.800
know but i landed across the street so they were like i hit

00:05:57.800 --> 00:06:00.740
the ground and they were probably there in less than a minute and they

00:06:00.740 --> 00:06:03.560
just you know they they took over the whole scene you know like

00:06:03.560 --> 00:06:06.320
they they directed it from there you know they got

00:06:06.320 --> 00:06:09.920
me across the street where the runway was that's where the helicopter landed

00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:13.540
you know without doing any more damage you know that's that's the important

00:06:13.540 --> 00:06:19.300
thing like uh i was i had a helmet on but you know i couldn't move it so there

00:06:19.300 --> 00:06:22.720
was one part where they couldn't open a visor of my helmet and i had a really

00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:25.020
really dark-tinted visor. You know, he was.

00:06:25.282 --> 00:06:28.322
It was really dark actually you know if you see behind me

00:06:28.322 --> 00:06:31.262
that picture is me and that's how dark my mind

00:06:31.262 --> 00:06:34.762
i thought it might have been yeah so

00:06:34.762 --> 00:06:37.542
i asked him to open it because you know like i i just

00:06:37.542 --> 00:06:40.322
you know i was starting to get closed in you know and

00:06:40.322 --> 00:06:43.102
nobody knew how to open it so i was like look just smash it

00:06:43.102 --> 00:06:45.862
with a rock man it doesn't matter at this point you know somebody from

00:06:45.862 --> 00:06:48.422
the drop zone was there and he's like no no i got it and he

00:06:48.422 --> 00:06:51.022
opened it you know and i was like want some air you know what i mean because it

00:06:51.022 --> 00:06:53.802
was like it was starting to like suffocate that's the thing like man

00:06:53.802 --> 00:06:56.882
when you can't move like that like you know like you really

00:06:56.882 --> 00:06:59.782
feel locked in your own body that's that's the

00:06:59.782 --> 00:07:02.702
worst part was like you know my like my body

00:07:02.702 --> 00:07:06.042
i was a prisoner inside my body it's

00:07:06.042 --> 00:07:09.062
this it's so hard to explain you know at this

00:07:09.062 --> 00:07:12.262
time at this at this stage all

00:07:12.262 --> 00:07:15.522
you can hit move is your head you couldn't do anything else no

00:07:15.522 --> 00:07:18.342
i had a little movement in my left hand for some reason you

00:07:18.342 --> 00:07:21.282
know i could move just like you know nothing really no and

00:07:21.282 --> 00:07:23.902
i know no i couldn't feel nothing nothing you know

00:07:23.902 --> 00:07:26.602
it's funny because i i remember the the one of

00:07:26.602 --> 00:07:29.622
the guys from the drop zone said to me he says hey look

00:07:29.622 --> 00:07:32.482
there you know i have seen this before you know

00:07:32.482 --> 00:07:36.842
football players they get a good shot in their head and they lose get paralyzed

00:07:36.842 --> 00:07:40.942
for a day or two you know he says it's called a stinger so i'm thinking all

00:07:40.942 --> 00:07:45.682
right i like that idea right i feel like i like the idea that you know but the

00:07:45.682 --> 00:07:50.802
other guy from the drop zone he walked away and under his breath he said No, it isn't.

00:07:51.162 --> 00:07:55.162
Right. And I heard him. Right. And I was like, but the whole time in the hospital,

00:07:55.162 --> 00:07:59.082
I get this like thought, no, man, it's, it's just a stinger.

00:07:59.282 --> 00:08:03.142
I'm going to get my movement back, you know? And then I was here. No, it isn't.

00:08:03.642 --> 00:08:09.082
You know what I mean? Like, man, but regardless, you know, there's that little

00:08:09.082 --> 00:08:12.262
hope and that it's a stinger that will get you through the day.

00:08:12.402 --> 00:08:14.262
Right. And maybe I'll get you through the next thing.

00:08:14.702 --> 00:08:19.722
Right. You know, and it's all you got, you know, it's just one little thing.

00:08:19.742 --> 00:08:23.342
It's one day at a time, but man, just a little hope goes a long way,

00:08:23.442 --> 00:08:27.142
you know, and, you know, but I, my thinking was that, you know,

00:08:27.362 --> 00:08:30.522
I, I had the thought that, that I prayed, you.

00:08:32.673 --> 00:08:37.953
He saved me, right? So I had that in my head the whole time where it was like, you know what?

00:08:38.153 --> 00:08:42.773
All this stuff didn't happen. So I can lay in bed the rest of my life and just

00:08:42.773 --> 00:08:45.633
have someone have to feed me and wash and clean me.

00:08:45.813 --> 00:08:49.213
There's just no way. What would be the point to that? That wouldn't make any sense to me.

00:08:49.313 --> 00:08:55.573
So I just had this deep belief that I was walking out of that hospital. You know what I mean?

00:08:55.993 --> 00:09:00.613
I'm walking out of here. I don't care. I was pretty serious about it.

00:09:00.653 --> 00:09:05.713
I say anything different. I'm walking out of here. That's the way it's going to be.

00:09:05.893 --> 00:09:08.513
I just kept that through the whole time. Ups, downs, you know,

00:09:08.633 --> 00:09:10.413
you go through them, obviously you do, right?

00:09:10.673 --> 00:09:16.133
But for the most part, I was always able to bring myself back out of a downturn

00:09:16.133 --> 00:09:20.613
with just saying, no, no way, no matter what it takes, walking out of here.

00:09:20.833 --> 00:09:24.573
I remember like it was yesterday, like, you know, you're laying in that hospital

00:09:24.573 --> 00:09:26.873
bed and, you know, my hands were curled in, right?

00:09:27.013 --> 00:09:30.473
So I couldn't do anything. You know what I mean? Like I, at this stage,

00:09:30.793 --> 00:09:34.333
they hadn't told you that you are a paraplegic from the hospital, I take it.

00:09:34.653 --> 00:09:39.593
Well, no, they had, but the diagnosis from the doctor was that their surgery

00:09:39.593 --> 00:09:44.753
was successful and that my discs, they crumbled, right?

00:09:45.233 --> 00:09:49.233
C5 and C6. They kind of like, from the impact, they crumbled, you know?

00:09:49.373 --> 00:09:52.413
And in the beginning he said, all right, well, that's a good thing because had

00:09:52.413 --> 00:09:55.453
they stayed intact, they probably would have severed my spinal cord.

00:09:55.613 --> 00:09:58.753
He said, but I can't tell from the x-ray. He says, you got to get into surgery.

00:09:59.413 --> 00:10:04.833
So when I came out of surgery, he said, okay, everything I did was a success,

00:10:04.833 --> 00:10:08.773
but I can't tell you what your recovery looks like.

00:10:09.173 --> 00:10:13.713
He said another two hours and you would have been paralyzed from the neck down

00:10:13.713 --> 00:10:17.473
no matter what, because the swelling would have got to it and it would have

00:10:17.473 --> 00:10:19.693
just, you know, so that's a good thing.

00:10:19.953 --> 00:10:23.793
He said, but he tells his patients that it's all luck, right?

00:10:24.013 --> 00:10:26.313
Whether they walk out or not, it's got nothing to do with anything else,

00:10:26.313 --> 00:10:30.533
But luck, he said, because he said some of his patients will walk out.

00:10:30.913 --> 00:10:35.473
He says, like, very few. He says most people won't, but he has no idea why.

00:10:35.713 --> 00:10:41.673
And then he went on to say the one thing that if I stayed positive and I put

00:10:41.673 --> 00:10:46.953
the hard work in, he said, the success or failure of my recovery was up to me.

00:10:47.527 --> 00:10:52.467
That's like the last thing he said. So I'm thinking to myself like,

00:10:52.567 --> 00:10:55.067
all right, well, it's up to me. Okay.

00:10:55.487 --> 00:10:59.487
Yeah. Well, that's pretty tough because here I am.

00:10:59.647 --> 00:11:03.447
I just got through recovering from the police stuff. You know what I mean?

00:11:03.567 --> 00:11:09.167
All those 11 surgeries, the spinal cord surgeries, my lower back.

00:11:09.447 --> 00:11:10.987
They replaced my shoulder.

00:11:11.287 --> 00:11:15.767
I was a mess. I beat it. I got through all that. And here I am laying there.

00:11:16.447 --> 00:11:20.327
I'm 54 years old. You know what I mean? Like, and I'm like, man,

00:11:20.447 --> 00:11:21.727
I got to go through this again.

00:11:22.107 --> 00:11:25.227
You know, like that's a, that's a tough pill to swallow.

00:11:25.407 --> 00:11:30.107
You know, I didn't know if I had it in me. Like if I had, if it was just me

00:11:30.107 --> 00:11:32.527
and no help, you know, I don't know.

00:11:32.727 --> 00:11:35.927
I don't, I, you know, I guess no one, no one really knows. Right.

00:11:36.087 --> 00:11:39.507
Until they're, you know, people say to me now, Oh, hey, man,

00:11:39.647 --> 00:11:42.327
like what you did, you know, that was incredible.

00:11:42.707 --> 00:11:48.587
And my response is that when you have no choice, you'll do incredible things,

00:11:48.767 --> 00:11:51.367
you know, like things that you don't think you're capable of doing.

00:11:52.167 --> 00:11:55.207
You'll do it, you know, because you don't have a choice.

00:11:55.547 --> 00:12:00.187
Right. So, you know, I'm not special. You know, it's just that when you're put in that situation.

00:12:00.727 --> 00:12:06.407
Well, I guess you do have a choice. You have a choice to not try or to quit

00:12:06.407 --> 00:12:08.467
or just to do it. You know what I mean?

00:12:08.607 --> 00:12:13.367
Like, it's just, that's it. So, and if you don't, if you choose to go forward

00:12:13.367 --> 00:12:16.467
and give it everything you got, you know, then, you know, you,

00:12:16.467 --> 00:12:21.147
you just keep going, I guess, until you can't fight no more. Right.

00:12:21.627 --> 00:12:25.267
But as long as you can fight, you're in the game. That's the way I look at it.

00:12:25.547 --> 00:12:29.487
You know, and then, and I got a lot of that from, you know, my Marine Corps

00:12:29.487 --> 00:12:34.687
training, you know, like greatest thing that ever happened to me was going and getting training.

00:12:34.887 --> 00:12:38.087
Right. Because you realize that you can go so much.

00:12:38.527 --> 00:12:42.047
Is this with the Marines you're talking about? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:45.779
So they, you know, they, they, they push you so hard that, you know,

00:12:45.899 --> 00:12:48.579
you would have never thought that you could go as far as, as,

00:12:48.859 --> 00:12:52.239
but they, they teach you that, you know, it doesn't even start till you,

00:12:52.299 --> 00:12:53.819
till you think you can't take it anymore.

00:12:53.959 --> 00:12:57.279
That's just the beginning. You know, you got so much more, you know,

00:12:57.319 --> 00:12:58.839
I, that kind of stuck with me.

00:12:59.179 --> 00:13:03.339
And then, you know, the police, all the police academy training that I went

00:13:03.339 --> 00:13:06.239
through and then I was a police academy drill instructor.

00:13:06.499 --> 00:13:11.999
So for years here I am training police recruits, each of them to never quit.

00:13:12.119 --> 00:13:15.899
Right. You know, that's the thing, like, you know, just I'm pounding it in them.

00:13:16.019 --> 00:13:19.239
Then you can never give up no matter what. You've got to fight.

00:13:19.899 --> 00:13:23.559
No one's coming to save you. You're on your own. You know, then here I am.

00:13:24.059 --> 00:13:25.139
Yeah, I'm just going to say there.

00:13:25.899 --> 00:13:31.079
How much, how long did you actually spend being in hospital before you started to rehab?

00:13:31.599 --> 00:13:35.119
Well, they put me in rehab in two weeks. They started me right away,

00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:38.119
two weeks. Right after the operation.

00:13:38.919 --> 00:13:44.799
Yeah, as soon as I could stop taking intravenous narcotics, that was it.

00:13:44.939 --> 00:13:47.539
They wanted me in rehab as soon as I could get in there. Right.

00:13:48.079 --> 00:13:51.139
But you were committed at that stage. No, no.

00:13:51.459 --> 00:13:56.739
When they first put me into my first session for therapy, they had like four

00:13:56.739 --> 00:13:58.699
guys. They had to get me out of my wheelchair.

00:13:59.039 --> 00:14:02.059
First, they had to get me in the wheelchair. And then they got me to therapy.

00:14:02.519 --> 00:14:05.839
Then they had to get me out, and they laid me on a table. And it was one of

00:14:05.839 --> 00:14:07.759
those tables where it goes up and down, you know?

00:14:08.259 --> 00:14:11.439
So it was like a padded table you know like a therapy table

00:14:11.439 --> 00:14:15.079
and we sat there for a whole hour screaming

00:14:15.079 --> 00:14:17.719
at me not screaming but you know come on come on trying to

00:14:17.719 --> 00:14:22.379
get me just just to move my leg you know just to move it something just to move

00:14:22.379 --> 00:14:27.519
it i didn't do it it took a couple days and then like the first time i moved

00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:32.239
my leg the movement was so small you know and they were so happy you know like

00:14:32.239 --> 00:14:36.939
ah success you know and i'm thinking oh man i got a long way to go.

00:14:38.979 --> 00:14:41.959
They were so happy you know and you actually

00:14:41.959 --> 00:14:45.819
saw your time moving well then they felt it they couldn't see it was so small

00:14:45.819 --> 00:14:49.919
they had to feel it you know yeah okay when i was in therapy like they actually

00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:53.979
saw that i moved my leg like just a little thing you know and it took everything

00:14:53.979 --> 00:14:58.819
i had man everything just kind of you know thought i was so happy you know and

00:14:58.819 --> 00:15:00.359
that's what it's all That's all it is, though.

00:15:00.459 --> 00:15:03.819
It's like it's one small victory at a time, though, you know,

00:15:04.219 --> 00:15:06.359
and just go on one after another.

00:15:06.699 --> 00:15:10.439
And they seem meaningless. They're not meaningless because, you know,

00:15:10.539 --> 00:15:12.779
I noticed there's people in therapy, right?

00:15:13.059 --> 00:15:17.739
This hospital specialized in spinal cord injuries and traumatic brain injury.

00:15:17.879 --> 00:15:22.919
So there was a lot of patients that died injuries just like mine. Some were worse.

00:15:23.299 --> 00:15:27.019
Some were better. I was, you know, right in the middle. But you'd see somebody

00:15:27.019 --> 00:15:30.919
and, you know, you're going along, you're doing your thing, they're doing hers,

00:15:31.019 --> 00:15:33.119
but you see it, they're moving, they're moving the best they can.

00:15:33.239 --> 00:15:35.259
Whatever it is they're doing, they're doing it. And then.

00:15:35.743 --> 00:15:37.643
You see them one day and there's something different about them.

00:15:37.743 --> 00:15:41.223
Like, it's totally like there's something you talk to them and they're different.

00:15:41.363 --> 00:15:43.543
And what it is, is they gave up.

00:15:43.803 --> 00:15:46.583
They gave up. They were done. They lost all hope.

00:15:46.863 --> 00:15:50.963
There's nothing you could say to them to get them to, you know, back in that game.

00:15:51.323 --> 00:15:55.563
And the thing is, though, like, they didn't improve anymore. They were stuck.

00:15:55.923 --> 00:16:01.863
It's like, so, like, I saw that and I learned that. And I just realized that, man, it's all mental.

00:16:02.063 --> 00:16:05.283
Not all of it, I guess. You know what I mean? But a lot of it is mental. You know?

00:16:05.743 --> 00:16:09.823
If I say I'm done, I'm done. But if I say I'm good, I'm going to keep going.

00:16:09.983 --> 00:16:11.143
I don't care. I'm going to keep going.

00:16:11.443 --> 00:16:15.743
And you just, you know what I mean? Like you just head down and you push through, you know?

00:16:16.083 --> 00:16:19.023
Yeah. You know, it's a shame, but it's frustrating because as,

00:16:19.123 --> 00:16:22.363
as like a former police drill instructor, right.

00:16:22.543 --> 00:16:26.043
And I see that, you know, that's frustrating because you know,

00:16:26.243 --> 00:16:30.143
deep inside that they could, they could do more, you know, but they don't know that.

00:16:30.263 --> 00:16:33.283
And they, they can't, you can't convince them shame. You know,

00:16:33.443 --> 00:16:36.343
even when I got out of the hospital, I had a long, long way to go.

00:16:36.863 --> 00:16:39.203
You know, it was about five months in there. Wasn't it nice?

00:16:39.743 --> 00:16:43.043
No, I was only in the hospital almost three months.

00:16:43.463 --> 00:16:46.603
Oh, right. Okay. Then you were able to get out, but not run.

00:16:46.923 --> 00:16:48.183
I was able to get out. Yeah.

00:16:48.563 --> 00:16:52.583
Yeah. So I did, when I got out, I was doing therapy four days a week.

00:16:52.723 --> 00:16:55.603
Right. And, uh, you know, and listen, they were really great.

00:16:55.823 --> 00:16:58.843
They weren't like the hospital, right? They just didn't know as

00:16:58.843 --> 00:17:01.523
much as they knew at the hospital because that's all they

00:17:01.523 --> 00:17:04.223
did is like i said that a spinal cord injury but they

00:17:04.223 --> 00:17:07.503
were good and i did a lot on my own like i would whenever

00:17:07.503 --> 00:17:10.283
i could i would i would move i just had to keep

00:17:10.283 --> 00:17:14.343
moving you know i'd walk up and down my driveway all day long it's slow but

00:17:14.343 --> 00:17:19.683
i'm still moving right you know because part of it was i wanted to go skydive

00:17:19.683 --> 00:17:23.863
i wanted to get back up in the air because so the whole thing it with the skydiving

00:17:23.863 --> 00:17:28.563
was let's say i wasn't trying to like get it i'm not looking for attention like Oh, look at me.

00:17:28.683 --> 00:17:31.803
I'm skydiving. Right. I, you know, I was, I was hunched over and limping.

00:17:32.043 --> 00:17:36.663
It's not what I was looking for. You know, I didn't want my accident to define

00:17:36.663 --> 00:17:37.923
me for the rest of my life.

00:17:38.063 --> 00:17:41.563
I didn't want to be, Oh, that's that guy that got messed up skydiving. You know what I mean?

00:17:41.943 --> 00:17:45.823
So, you know, and plus I had a time limit. If I didn't jump in six months,

00:17:45.843 --> 00:17:47.023
I'd lose my license. Right.

00:17:47.403 --> 00:17:50.363
So cause you got to jump every six months to hold your license.

00:17:50.883 --> 00:17:54.303
Normally it's not a big deal. You go and you jump on an instructor and they,

00:17:54.303 --> 00:17:56.163
they sign off on you and you've got your license.

00:17:56.403 --> 00:18:01.503
But I knew, though, that with my neck being broken, there's no way anyone would

00:18:01.503 --> 00:18:03.623
take me on a jump. I knew they wouldn't do it.

00:18:04.101 --> 00:18:08.161
So I knew that if I lost my license, I would never get it back.

00:18:08.681 --> 00:18:13.561
So I was trying to get an instructor to do a tandem jump.

00:18:13.741 --> 00:18:17.541
They hook you to the instructor, you know, because that counts as a jump.

00:18:17.641 --> 00:18:19.961
And that would have cleared my license for another six months.

00:18:20.461 --> 00:18:23.801
Nobody would do it. The drop zone manager freaked out.

00:18:24.521 --> 00:18:27.641
She told me flat out, you're never jumping here again.

00:18:27.821 --> 00:18:30.841
You're not jumping. Forget about it. She said, you can ride the plane,

00:18:30.861 --> 00:18:34.961
but you're not jumping. But, okay, well, I don't want to ride the plane. You know what I mean?

00:18:35.341 --> 00:18:38.521
What if I, you know what I mean? Like, you know, but the thing too,

00:18:38.581 --> 00:18:39.841
though, is that you got veterans, right?

00:18:40.601 --> 00:18:45.601
That jump. These guys are missing limbs. And they modified their gear,

00:18:45.821 --> 00:18:50.661
they trained, and they do it just as good as everybody else, right? Yeah.

00:18:50.981 --> 00:18:54.841
But I couldn't get anybody to even, like, just because of that stigma with a broken neck.

00:18:55.121 --> 00:18:57.641
It's not accurate. It's not true. You know what I mean? Like,

00:18:57.861 --> 00:19:03.541
the stuff that they put in my neck, the hardware, I can't hurt that. and survive anyway.

00:19:03.901 --> 00:19:07.361
You know what I mean? It's like, so I couldn't get anybody to help me.

00:19:07.461 --> 00:19:13.421
So I called up my friend who was the drop zone manager for Skydive Shenandoah in Newark, Virginia.

00:19:13.561 --> 00:19:17.501
She's also a rigger, right? So she would always fix my gear and everything.

00:19:17.821 --> 00:19:23.541
She's a retired New Jersey state trooper. And she's also, she was a sergeant in the Marine Corps.

00:19:23.861 --> 00:19:27.461
Yeah. And she's a pilot. And so she, you know, she's like really big,

00:19:27.821 --> 00:19:30.621
very prominent in the sport of skydiving, right?

00:19:30.941 --> 00:19:36.321
So I called her up. You know, I was going, you know, off how nobody would help me. I can't find my gear.

00:19:36.461 --> 00:19:39.121
No one will tell me where my gear is. I felt like a teenager,

00:19:39.261 --> 00:19:42.061
right, that stayed out too late, and they took my car keys away from me, right?

00:19:42.321 --> 00:19:45.841
Nobody would tell me where my gear was. You know, like, that's going to stop me, right?

00:19:46.381 --> 00:19:48.661
You know, like, if I wanted to jump, I'd go somewhere.

00:19:49.241 --> 00:19:51.881
I'll get gear. That's not a problem, you know?

00:19:52.421 --> 00:19:55.281
So she told me that she had my gear, and she was fixing it.

00:19:55.541 --> 00:19:59.221
She needed more time, because, like, they cut it off me. So,

00:19:59.381 --> 00:20:02.721
and they cut all the important parts. So she had to work on that.

00:20:02.921 --> 00:20:06.681
But she told me she would take me on a skydive if I got a note from my doctor.

00:20:06.941 --> 00:20:10.681
So I was like, okay, great. Because I knew, first of all, I knew that my doctor,

00:20:11.201 --> 00:20:13.281
he was like for me skydiving.

00:20:13.421 --> 00:20:15.341
He was all for it. He told me that.

00:20:15.849 --> 00:20:21.529
You want to skydive? I said, yeah. He goes, okay, well, work hard enough to be able to skydive.

00:20:21.889 --> 00:20:24.089
Now, that made perfect sense to me.

00:20:24.849 --> 00:20:28.269
He was in North Carolina. The doctors in New York were the opposite.

00:20:28.469 --> 00:20:30.129
They're like, no way, you're crazy.

00:20:30.849 --> 00:20:33.569
You're going to end up in a wheelchair, right? I was like, stop.

00:20:33.889 --> 00:20:38.969
So I called up the doctor and I had to know in an hour, but I couldn't tell

00:20:38.969 --> 00:20:44.469
anyone because the person who owned the skydive center in Virginia owned the

00:20:44.469 --> 00:20:47.669
one here by my house. I yelled both of them.

00:20:48.069 --> 00:20:52.789
But he wasn't the problem. He was okay. It was just the drop zone manager up here.

00:20:53.189 --> 00:20:57.169
She was like, no way. So I just didn't tell anyone.

00:20:57.309 --> 00:21:01.649
And I went down to Virginia like three, four weeks later.

00:21:01.949 --> 00:21:07.849
At that point in my recovery, I was hunched over, limped.

00:21:07.969 --> 00:21:10.449
I had very little feeling in my hand.

00:21:10.609 --> 00:21:13.429
My fingers were really weak. I couldn't button my shirts.

00:21:13.889 --> 00:21:17.629
I couldn't tie I had my shoes, I had elastic shoelaces, you know.

00:21:18.789 --> 00:21:20.569
Couldn't even hold a fork yet, you know?

00:21:20.689 --> 00:21:23.169
I mean, I'm not right anyway. I couldn't figure out how to hold it.

00:21:23.996 --> 00:21:28.436
But I knew, though, that I could skydive because I did that skydive in my mind

00:21:28.436 --> 00:21:31.076
so many times lying in a hospital bed, right?

00:21:31.196 --> 00:21:35.336
Like every, I went over every single part of that jump in my mind like a thousand

00:21:35.336 --> 00:21:37.756
times. So I was ready. I knew that.

00:21:37.976 --> 00:21:41.996
But I was worried, though, that she had changed her mind. You never know.

00:21:42.216 --> 00:21:44.816
You know, like, you just don't know at this point, you know,

00:21:44.896 --> 00:21:46.736
who's going to be for you or against you.

00:21:46.896 --> 00:21:49.936
So I drove down to Virginia and she didn't change her mind.

00:21:50.096 --> 00:21:52.856
She was like, well, we're good. but she told me she gave

00:21:52.856 --> 00:21:55.916
me the you know the rules right he said

00:21:55.916 --> 00:21:58.736
that if i did anything unsafe or she

00:21:58.736 --> 00:22:02.196
felt i wasn't ready yet she was going to automatically ground

00:22:02.196 --> 00:22:04.976
me for six months i i agree to

00:22:04.976 --> 00:22:07.896
that okay perfect number one because if she

00:22:07.896 --> 00:22:10.736
grounds me for six months that means in six

00:22:10.736 --> 00:22:14.036
months we'll do it again right so i knew i wasn't she wasn't

00:22:14.036 --> 00:22:17.036
just going to throw me away right where i'd be gone but the other

00:22:17.036 --> 00:22:19.976
thing too i was like i knew that she would be fair right there was

00:22:19.976 --> 00:22:22.936
no agenda there so and that's all i was looking for just

00:22:22.936 --> 00:22:25.916
a chance just give me a chance fair shot like

00:22:25.916 --> 00:22:28.636
everybody else and if i don't do it i don't make it i don't

00:22:28.636 --> 00:22:31.456
make it but if i can do it then i can do it but you

00:22:31.456 --> 00:22:34.516
know at that point everybody they're well-meaning but

00:22:34.516 --> 00:22:38.296
everybody thinks that they know what's best for you right and that's not the

00:22:38.296 --> 00:22:43.216
case you know what i mean like you know and the other reason though like then

00:22:43.216 --> 00:22:49.736
i i skydiving was so important to me was that it's so easy to become I'm a victim

00:22:49.736 --> 00:22:52.196
and just start feeling sorry for you, right?

00:22:52.416 --> 00:22:56.816
If you don't watch it, you can end up, you know, and that's not me, right?

00:22:57.036 --> 00:22:59.256
You know, you wake up in the morning, right? And you're like.

00:22:59.476 --> 00:23:03.416
Oh, everything hurts. And the nerve damage is incredible, right?

00:23:03.496 --> 00:23:04.736
You can't do anything about it.

00:23:04.876 --> 00:23:08.236
You know, so you can sit there and say, I'm just going to lay in bed all day. Yeah.

00:23:08.436 --> 00:23:14.536
No one, no one would fault you. But you know what though? Like in my mind, if I can skydive, right?

00:23:14.816 --> 00:23:21.196
Well, I say to myself, Hey, it's tie dive up out of a plane. So stop being a victim.

00:23:21.692 --> 00:23:25.832
I'm feeling sorry for yourself, get out of bed, get dressed and go do what you

00:23:25.832 --> 00:23:28.092
got to do. You know what I mean? I needed that.

00:23:28.292 --> 00:23:33.192
I needed to take away the ability to have an excuse, right. To be a victim.

00:23:33.332 --> 00:23:35.852
Right. That was, that's, that was my thing. That's why I wanted,

00:23:36.012 --> 00:23:40.812
I wanted to jump, you know, but man, I lost, I lost a lot of friends over it.

00:23:40.952 --> 00:23:44.752
People were mad at me. Like they just couldn't believe that I was going to skydive

00:23:44.752 --> 00:23:46.932
again. And they were, they were really mad at my wife.

00:23:47.312 --> 00:23:52.592
Well, could you let them, you know, let me, you know, come on. We're adults here.

00:23:53.512 --> 00:23:56.192
So there's a lot of friends I still haven't spoken to that they just,

00:23:56.312 --> 00:23:59.332
they refused, you know, because, because they just, you know,

00:23:59.392 --> 00:24:00.152
they didn't understand.

00:24:00.392 --> 00:24:03.792
Right. They don't, you know, they wanted to put me in a box and I'm not,

00:24:03.872 --> 00:24:07.672
I didn't want to get in a box yet. You know, I'm not, I wasn't ready to get in a box.

00:24:07.692 --> 00:24:11.132
You know, I did, I went my own way. You know, I'm going to go and I'm going to jump.

00:24:11.472 --> 00:24:14.592
I can't tell you, though, like, like the feeling though, you know,

00:24:14.692 --> 00:24:19.632
of actually, you know, when I jumped, if I can box that up and give it to people. Oh man.

00:24:19.952 --> 00:24:23.572
Right. And what a feeling, right? Like, because I'm in the plane,

00:24:23.772 --> 00:24:25.832
I get on a plane, you know, we're quiet.

00:24:26.052 --> 00:24:28.392
We're both in a lot of, you know, a lot of thought, you know,

00:24:28.512 --> 00:24:33.092
because I don't know what's going to happen. I lost over 30 something pounds in the hospital.

00:24:33.292 --> 00:24:37.572
So everything would be different. The way the wind hit me, the way I, you know what I mean?

00:24:37.612 --> 00:24:42.652
Like I had to find my, my new spot in the air because everything's different.

00:24:42.892 --> 00:24:46.732
You know, she's quiet because she's taking a huge chance with me,

00:24:46.772 --> 00:24:50.452
but she's confident of her ability. So she knows what she has.

00:24:50.592 --> 00:24:51.952
You know, we stuck to the plan.

00:24:52.152 --> 00:24:56.532
I leaned forward. Well, she opened the door and I swung my legs out.

00:24:56.892 --> 00:25:04.312
I sat there for 20 seconds, 30 seconds. And I just leaned forward, fell out of the plane.

00:25:04.712 --> 00:25:08.372
You know, the wind hit me, you know, I did like a barrel roll and like a flip,

00:25:08.532 --> 00:25:09.312
you know, but I was fighting.

00:25:10.232 --> 00:25:15.752
Once, once I relaxed, I let the wind just put me into a nice position, right?

00:25:16.032 --> 00:25:19.712
I just relaxed my body. I was still really tight. and locked up, you know?

00:25:19.892 --> 00:25:23.412
So I just got, you know, let the wind put me in a position at work.

00:25:23.512 --> 00:25:27.272
You know, and I looked around, you know, and I didn't see Shauna.

00:25:27.772 --> 00:25:30.892
She was above me watching me the whole time, you know?

00:25:31.232 --> 00:25:36.012
I guess she wanted to see if I was actually ready or not. But she came down and we linked up.

00:25:36.708 --> 00:25:39.128
We were both smiling, you know what I mean? Like, it was a big,

00:25:39.228 --> 00:25:44.088
it really was a big deal. Like, I can't explain it. I mean, it was a big deal for me, anyway.

00:25:44.608 --> 00:25:47.188
I mean, it was a big deal for a lot of reasons at that point,

00:25:47.248 --> 00:25:52.268
you know, because all, and I know this shouldn't matter, but all the people

00:25:52.268 --> 00:25:54.228
that didn't want me to jump,

00:25:54.488 --> 00:25:58.468
that went out of their way, right, to make it difficult, or to,

00:25:58.468 --> 00:26:02.148
like, to just talk nonsense, whatever it is, you know?

00:26:02.308 --> 00:26:06.428
So to be able to do it, to shut them up was great, you know?

00:26:06.428 --> 00:26:12.108
But that's not really the motive behind it. The motive, though, was like for me.

00:26:12.648 --> 00:26:16.708
Now, here I am like, all right, I got problems. I know that.

00:26:17.008 --> 00:26:18.688
I'm always going to have them.

00:26:19.248 --> 00:26:21.068
Can't do nothing about that. I did

00:26:21.068 --> 00:26:24.128
it to myself, so I'm not going to whine about it. You know what I mean?

00:26:25.348 --> 00:26:32.688
But that doesn't mean that I can't live my life the same as I would if I didn't have my accident. it.

00:26:32.848 --> 00:26:37.108
I'm just a little slower and I'm a little weaker, but I can still go skydiving.

00:26:37.288 --> 00:26:39.808
And I needed to prove that to everybody. So they'd leave me alone.

00:26:40.228 --> 00:26:42.668
That one jump didn't do it.

00:26:43.548 --> 00:26:46.268
They were still very leery of me skydiving.

00:26:47.168 --> 00:26:51.268
Eventually they got used to it. And now it's fine.

00:26:51.488 --> 00:26:56.888
I get on a plane with my limp, whatever, and I do what I got to do.

00:26:57.528 --> 00:27:01.008
Nobody pays any attention to me anymore, which is great. So that's all I wanted.

00:27:01.228 --> 00:27:05.548
So everything was obviously okay. You're still skydiving now.

00:27:06.128 --> 00:27:12.668
Right. Yep. I'm still skydiving. I mean, I'm not, I don't do as many jumps in a day that I used to.

00:27:12.728 --> 00:27:16.508
I slowed down a little bit because I'm a little smarter now, you know, like.

00:27:17.065 --> 00:27:19.865
I actually, I pay more attention to the winds and everything.

00:27:20.225 --> 00:27:24.365
And I, I, I do now what I should have done before I got hurt, you know?

00:27:24.665 --> 00:27:29.725
So what I'd like to do with you, I read part of the book.

00:27:29.805 --> 00:27:34.525
I haven't finished it, unfortunately, but I got a bit of a laugh at the things

00:27:34.525 --> 00:27:39.665
you did when you were in law and I'd like to catch up with you again.

00:27:40.305 --> 00:27:45.745
And something on that, because I thought there was some funny things there about

00:27:45.745 --> 00:27:53.045
the, was it the Caruso family or something that stole the bread truck? That's right, yes.

00:27:53.765 --> 00:27:59.025
That's the greatest story. Yeah. So much fun. I thought that would make a good

00:27:59.025 --> 00:28:01.145
something to talk about because that was a funny thing.

00:28:01.525 --> 00:28:05.185
There are other funny things in which I thought, and I'm only halfway through the book.

00:28:05.725 --> 00:28:11.225
And thank you for having the books sent over for me. Thank you very, very much for your time.

00:28:11.845 --> 00:28:16.085
Thank you. Thank you for having me. And it's very well put. I thought that was

00:28:16.085 --> 00:28:18.425
a very good presentation. Thank you again.

00:28:18.805 --> 00:28:22.785
And I'll be back in touch so we can get into the law enforcement ones.

00:28:23.325 --> 00:28:27.625
Excellent. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you very much, Gary.

00:28:27.745 --> 00:28:28.925
Thank you. Thank you, mate. Bye.

00:28:29.305 --> 00:28:32.765
To our law listeners, I trust you enjoyed Gary's experience.

00:28:33.345 --> 00:28:38.645
If you would like a copy of Gary's book, Not My Time, which is very interesting

00:28:38.645 --> 00:28:43.225
and covers some funny stories and not forgetting the time he was almost killed

00:28:43.225 --> 00:28:45.065
while arresting a drug dealer,

00:28:45.425 --> 00:28:52.105
You can get in touch with us via email, which is whyisitsowatoutlook.com.au,

00:28:52.345 --> 00:28:54.185
or you can visit our website,

00:28:54.665 --> 00:28:58.065
whyisitsow.au, and leave your details.

00:28:58.825 --> 00:29:00.385
Unfortunately, the books are limited.

00:29:00.925 --> 00:29:05.565
We will be back with another episode shortly. Have a great day. Bye.

00:29:07.725 --> 00:29:12.545
Thank you for listening to Why Is It So? Make sure you tune in to our next episode.

00:29:12.545 --> 00:29:16.045
Remember, it's your last defense for common sense.