Feature News Story

This is my buddy Zack Broderick. When he was 14 he was helping his buddy swap out a lift on his truck. While working underneath the truck the left u-bolt got stuck and so he decided to try and pound it out with a hammer. On the third hit, there was a large crash as the u-bolt came out and the leave springs ejected apart which cause the axle to fall off the jack stand. This caused the vehicle to fall and crush Zack. As his friends fantically raced to get him out from under the vehicle Zack tried to remain calm but was in excruciating pain. Once they got the vehicle up high enough to drag him out, Zack immediatly knew there was something wrong. He was not able to feel or move his legs. His friends decided to get a piece of plywood and use it as a stretcher to get him inside the car so they could rush him to the hospital. Once they got to the hospital, Zack had to wait in the car for what he says felt like hours. Since they did not call an ambulance, they could not immediately treat him so, he had to wait. Once the EMS showed up, they took him inside to get x-rays to determine whether they could treat him there or have to move him to another hospital. After being x-rayd it was determined that he had to go to another hospital downtown. On the way to thee other hospital, Zack actually died but they were able to bring him back. Next thing he can remember, he was talking to his mom in the hospital where he then passed out and died again. After all was said and done, Zack had died a total of three times before he became stable. Out of surgery, Zack was informed that he was paralyzed from the waist down and that he would never walk again.

This was a devastating blow to Zack. He was a very active kid and he couldn't believe or even process the thought of not being able to run and play again. Zack became very depressed and self conscious. He felt like he was largely ignored at school because people did not know how to act around someone in a wheelchair. He could see people staring at him and once he made eye contact, people would quickly turn away. One day Zack was going down the hallway when he noticed another kid that was in a wheelchair. Zack then decided to wheel over to him and ram him with his wheelchair, as to say hello. As the kid tuned around to see what the heck had happened, he turned around to see Zack staring at him with a huge grin on his face. The kid turned his wheelchair around and then rammed into Zack. The two began laughing and ramming into each other with their wheelchairs till they both became tired. Once they stopped ramming into each other Zack introduced himself to the kid. His name was Joe Douglas. The two became instant friends.

After awhile, Zack started noticing that Joe was always gone. Zack decided to ask Joe about it and Joe informed him that he was a competitive skier to which Zack replied,"we can do things like that!?' After talking more about it with Joe, Joe showed him a bunch of videos of his competitions and Zack knew he needed to get in on that action. He quickly bought ski equipment and began to lean. Skiing came very naturally to Zack and he quickly began to catch the eyes of multiple coaches and teams. Over the course of the next three years, he went from being a beginner to one of the worlds top athletes. Zack was accepted to the Paralympic team after two years where he medaled in countless races along the way. Zack is most proud of his wins in the X-games. he proudly displays his medals he earned and his X-games patch at his home. Zack later became the head coach for team Mexico in the 2012 Paralympics and he continues to ski to this day.

I chose to write this story on Zack because to me, he is an inspiration. Having the active lifestyle that I do, i'd like to believe that i'd have the same attitude as Zack but, I just don't know. Below are some picture I took of Zack with his medals. The first four I photo shopped a little bit but, all the others are raw pics.