By Alex Hoban

Last Thursday a former student of Mrs. Stoker’s who graduated from Timberlane Regional High School in Plaistow, NH (’01) visited some of her classes to share his near death experience that drastically changed all aspects of his life. I was one of the lucky students who got the chance to listen to his story and to even ask a couple questions along the way. I always look forward to hearing stories like Scott’s, much like the story a disheartened father told a few years ago about his son’s suicide.

Jim Scott, now in his early 30s, reflected on an event that happened to him seven years ago when he crashed while driving drunk. The crash propelled Scott from his car causing severe damage to his head causing paralysis of his left side.  Just by listening to him and seeing how he acted, I could tell the amount of damage he had taken from the crash. Although he was badly hurt, his spirit seemed unmatchable as he remained persistent in his life and continues to look forward rather than being stuck in the past.

After the crash he lost his license and remained in the hospital for several months.  He then entered rehab in an attempt to regain what he had lost. His family was no stranger to accidents like his as his younger brother only a few years prior nearly died after falling several stories from a building. With that in mind, the family became very troubled with yet another accident. Scott’s father had a falling out with him after Jim was struggling to keep his life going.  Fortunately, they have rekindled their relationship.

I always give my undivided attention to speakers like this because I want to know how to prepare myself should a tragedy like this ever happen to me because I never want my spirit to be broken and my will to live taken away from me. I respect Jim Scott very much for his ability to endure and to work hard at moving forward, it’s something that many people in his position have failed to do many times over. It is people like Scott that go from school to school and tell people about his mistakes and how he had to pay for it; letting everyone know that things like this can happen to you.    If it can happen to him, it can happen to all of us and that is something we should always keep in mind.

Thank you, Jim, for coming to speak with us, I know we all appreciated it.