All of a sudden, I hit the ground and did the only thing that I could: scream. I screamed as loud as I could and for as long as I could. I knew that I was in pain, but with a scream like that, the pain had to be extreme. And with pain like that, I had to be seriously injured.

The day is December 10th 2012, and it is the beginning of winter, there is fluffy snow everywhere, even a huge pile in a nearby field. It is during recess that I see people going down an icy slide at insane speeds, almost flying. I think, “that looks fun”, so I decide that I would do it. I walk up the stairs, still sure that I want to do it. The person helping me asks if I am sure about it, and I say “yes”. Right when I’m about to go down the slide, I become a little unsure, but I did it anyway because it seemed fun. It is fun, up until the disastrous ending. I feel the air rushing past me as I go down the slide extremely fast. I fly off the slide and realize that I would not land in a good position and hit the snow, which is thought to be soft, right? The snow is not soft, causing my back to burst into excruciating pain. The only thing going through my mind is “OOOOWWWW!!!”, causing me to cry out in absolute agony. As soon as the person who is with me heard me scream, they ran right over to me to see what happened. They help me into my wheelchair so they could bring me to the nurse’s office, where I wait for my mom to come pick me up from school. When my mom comes to pick me up, I explain to her what just happened. While my mom drives me home, she asks me if I need to go to the hospital but, I did not feel like I had to go. When I got home though, I knew that I need to go to the hospital.

On the way to the hospital, I am almost lying down but, I am still suffering from a lot of pain. It is arranged for my dad to come meet us at the hospital, which is pretty easy because he worked nearby. When we arrive, it is painful for me to sit up to talk to the doctor but, luckily, my parents did most of the talking. The doctor decides to take an X-ray, where I am finally able to officially lie down. After the X-ray is taken, I rest for a little bit while the doctor examines the image. The doctor then comes in to show the X-ray to my family, and the X-ray shows that two maybe three of my vertebrae are fractured! This is the first time I have ever broken a bone, and some important ones at that. The doctors are discussing with my parents what would need to happen, whether I needed surgery, a cast, or something else. After a while of discussion, my parents and the doctors decide that I would just need to wear an orthotic brace for three months. That means that the injury is not that bad for a broken back. I also would not be able to go out for recess, which is okay with me because I did not have much to do during outdoor recess anyway. I also get to take a few days off of school, which is a little bittersweet for me, because I like to learn things. After about three months I have made a full recovery and I am able to go to recess outdoors and be with my friends again. Nowadays, I have a very small distaste for slides, and I now check if what I do is safe before I do it.