SkillsUSA SkillsUSA Champions Summer 2010 : Page 9
C Photo: Lloyd Wolf ‘THE ABILITY To CoMpETE’ hris Gabler had it all. Having just turned 22, the aspiring firefighter was getting a degree at Los Angeles Valley College. He’d already volunteered for a year-and-a-half at a North Holly-wood fire station and was just starting to train with the Pasadena fire department. He thought about joining the military. In a second, all his dreams were gone. “My whole life completely changed due to an unfortunate accident,” Gabler says. A brain-stem injury while snowboarding left him paralyzed from the neck down. “I felt that I had lost my life,” he remem-bers. “I felt helpless and uncertain of what my future had in store for me. I had a great life filled with so much happiness, goals and promise. “Then in a blink of an eye, I lost everything. I went from being a strong, independent, ambitious person that loved helping people — being the ‘go-to guy’ who had everything going for himself — to being a scared, terrified and helpless cripple. I just couldn’t understand or comprehend what went wrong or why it had to happen to me.” At the time, Gabler didn’t know how fortunate he was for someone with his uncommon type of injury. A doctor told Gabler’s father, Wendell, that most patients die or end up in a vegetative state. “The doctor gave him a worst-case scenario and asked my father to think about ‘pulling the plug’ to end my suffer-ing,” Gabler says. “There my life stood in my father’s hand. He was given the choice to allow me to live, in hopes of a good recovery, or to let me go in peace. “He took one look at me and told the doctor, ‘No, my son will make it.’ ” From that moment, Gabler’s fight to reclaim his life began. “My accident changed me in so many negative ways initially,” he reflects 14 years later from his home in Sylmar. “I was filled with so much anger, despair, hate, regret and confusion that I felt at times like just giving up. All I knew at the time was that I was in the fight of my life and on a long road to recovery.” In 1996, California’s Chris Gabler was at the brink of dying. Today, this student’s long road to recovery is an inspiration to his family, his friends and everyone he meets. B y E. T homas h all Summer 2010 SkillsUSA Champions 9
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