Kalamazoo Man Beats The Odds By Walking Again After 20 Years

If you find yourself in need of a little hope or inspiration or motivation...this is the story for you.

Reported by WWMT News Channel 3, a Kalamazoo man is defying all of the odds by walking after he was told, 20 years ago, that he would never walk again. Absolutely incredible.

Milan Bird was in his late teens doing what most teens do...having fun on the lake. He decided to take a dive into the water but was unaware how shallow the water was. He hit the sandbar crushing his 4th and 5th vertebrae. After hours of surgery and four months in the hospital, Milan was told he would never again have feeling from his collar bones down. A devastating prognosis for anyone.

Personally, I would love to believe that I'm the type of person who would make the best out of a terrible accident, but I don't know that I am. Having your entire life changed at such a young age...I don't think anyone would blame Milan for being angry or bitter. But, that's not the case.

Instead, Milan focused on keeping his attitude positive and his faith alive. And, I know it's cliché, but there must be something to the whole "staying positive" thing because twenty years later, in 2018, Milan took his first post-injury steps.

I'm certainly not a doctor but my mother was a neuromuscular therapist in her day. She worked with both paraplegic and quadriplegic patients. While she may have helped them gain a little bit of motion back, walking again? That just didn't happen.

At the time of his interview with WWMT, Milan Bird said that he was now able to walk for about 10 minutes at a time, defying all the odds and all the doctors that told him this would never again be possible. In his quote to WWMT he said,

You’re more powerful than you think. We hear all of these clichés but it turns out most of these clichés are true.

I wrote it at the start and I'm writing it again - this story is absolutely incredible.

I find, especially lately, that it's entirely too easy to get caught up in the negativity of life. The online bickering, the politics, the trolls...they become blinders to what might be more important in life or the inspiring things happening around me like Milan Bird's story.

So today, not to stand on a soap box, but I want to issue a challenge to anyone who reads this: take a moment to focus on what's going right in your life, what you have to be grateful for, what amazing things are possible in the future. It might change your day! ❤️

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