Ocala quadriplegic battles new spate of bad luck

Dec. 8--A day after the 25-year anniversary of the car accident that left Michael Reaves a quadriplegic, a tree fell on his home, nearly crushing him and starting a series of events that continue to test his resolve.

"It was 25 years and a day after I got hit by a drunk driver that this happened," Reaves said recently, still recovering from a broken shoulder.

On Sept. 18, he was at home just days after suffering a mild heart attack when he heard a loud crack.

"It sounded like thunder, and then everything went black," he said.

When he came to, he was covered in debris, including a roof beam that fell on his right shoulder, cleaving his shoulder blade in half and breaking three ribs. The only reason he wasn't crushed to death was because of his custom wheelchair, which acted as a protective cage around him.

Still, the pain from his broken shoulder and ribs was unbearable.

"People think because I am a quadriplegic, I don't feel pain. I don't have feeling on the outside of my body, but I can feel pain inside," he said, and the pain of a broken shoulder is excruciating.

Neighbors were able to get him out and not a moment too soon. Not long after he was free, the wheelchair's frame gave way and the chair was crushed.

"That chair saved my life. It really did," Reaves said.

But his trials were far from over. As he recovered in the hospital, he developed bed sores and pneumonia, a constant danger for quadriplegics. To make matters worse, someone stole his family's vehicle out of the hospital parking lot.

Pamela Reaves, Michael's wife and primary caregiver for 25 years, spent most of her time at his bedside at the hospital. They wanted to send Michael to a rehabilitation center to continue his recovery, but the center would not allow Pamela to stay around the clock.

"I wasn't going to be without her. She's been by my side this whole time. She had nowhere to stay. I wasn't going to let her stay on the street," Michael Reaves said.

They couldn't stay at their rental home because of the damage, so they planned to go to a hotel after they went by the home and tried to salvage a few things.

But there was little left undamaged by the tree collapse and subsequent rain.

"The only things we were able to save was our washer and dryer and some clothes that were in the back bedroom," Michael Reaves said.

They recently found a new home, but the rent is a third higher. His federal disability payments are their only means of support.

Except for a bed, a television and a few small pieces of furniture, the home is bare.

To keep expenses down, they use as little electricity as possible. They only run the air conditioning and heat if there's a dire need.

"It's tight, but we are making it," Michael Reaves said.

While they are now in a home, transportation is a struggle.

They never recovered the stolen vehicle, and insurance may not cover a replacement. Even before the latest injury, getting into the car was difficult. It took all their strength combined to slide him into the car.

"Right now, I walk. I have a bicycle, but it's got a flat tire," Pamela Reaves said when asked how she gets around.

"It's been stressful. I'm worried about what's going to happen," her husband said.

It's taking a toll on his wife as well.

"We're both really at the end of our ropes. There's a lot going on," she said. "I'm very depressed. Sometimes I feel like I want to give up."

It's not the first time the couple faced tough odds.

On Sept. 17, 1994, the U.S. Army veteran's life changed forever. He was in Branson, Missouri, to work as a commercial window installer and cleaner at the Andy Williams Performing Arts Center and Theatre. That night, as he crossed over a bridge, he remembers seeing a full-size pickup truck barreling toward him in the wrong lane.

"I tried to swerve. But I had nowhere to go. I was on the gravel riding the guardrail, and he still hit me head-on," he recalled.

He woke up a few minutes later in the ruined car, slumped over the steering wheel.

He tried to sit up, but his body didn't respond.

"I couldn't feel anything. I was scared," he said.

The accident severed his spinal cord at his sixth vertebra. It left him paralyzed from the chest down. He can move his arms but has very limited use of his hands.

"When he was first paralyzed, they only gave him 10 years to live," Pamela Reaves said.

The driver of the pickup was ordered to pay restitution, but Michael Reaves never got anything.

"He had three DUIs prior, and somehow he still had his license," he said. "How does that happen?'

But the couple moved on and built a humble life in Ocala, before their latest trials.

"I try not to ask why. It doesn't do any good. I try to be grateful for what I have. I'm alive, and I can breathe on my own. I can still use my arms somewhat," Michael Reaves said.

He is also grateful for help they have received, including the furniture from Brother's Keeper and assistance paying for the hotel room from the local American Red Cross.

"Without them, we couldn't have made it," Michael Reaves said.

Community with a Heart has helped this family, as well, by purchasing a new computer. If anyone wishes to help the family, they can call Community with a Heart at 438-5990 or check the information box that accompanies this story.

-- Contact Carlos E. Medina at 867-4157 or cmedina@starbanner.com.

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