Stout’s planned one-hour ride became a yearlong painful, frustrating and enlightening journey that has transformed his outlook on life, he said during a walk up the trail last week.
A former Air Force flight surgeon, Stout was used to living a physically active, fast-paced life.
Then, suddenly, everything came screeching to a stop.
“I’ve never been patient,” Stout said. “I’ve always hated lines and waiting.
“Then, the first six months, I had to wait for everything. There was nothing I could do for myself.”
The experience, he said, taught him what was truly important.
Long ago, he said, he told his wife, Pam, that if he ever got badly injured, he didn’t want to live.
“But when I was laying here on the trail,” he said, looking down at the spot on the now-paved bridge, “never for a moment did I want to die. I know it sounds Polyannish, but for everything I’ve lost physically, I’ve gained something else.”
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