Hello, everyone; I am Alec Winchester, an author. I will soon be working with Alexis Winchester. She will write romantic fiction books. I am also known as Joel Dimmette in real life. Many of you know I have started writing nonfiction books, with two already live on Amazon, which you can find using my pen name. Why did I start writing? Another door to open. Another chance is in front of me. I have to decide: sit in my wheelchair or do something exciting that is helpful to many others. But now, I write a little about my life so you will know why I did this thing. For those of you who read it, I hope it inspires you. I hope it encourages you. I hope it helps you get up and reach for the thing you desire but think you can’t achieve. But you can. If you will, my effort here and my story will be worth everything.
Unbroken: A Quadriplegic Rises from the Ashes
It happened in a microsecond. All I saw were redlines across my eyes and buzzing in my head. I could not move. My face was in the dirt, but I could see my horse and my dog standing there looking at me. After a few minutes, I began having trouble breathing. It got worse. There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to die, only sad that my wife and 11-year-old son would find me like this. But my horse had miraculously walked across a long pasture. It went through a gate and stood at the back of the sunroom at the house. They found me before it was too late, getting a free helicopter ride out of it, plus a pacemaker and a respirator. They told me I would never get off the respirator. Too old, I was 60 then and in incredible shape due to my work around the large farm. Months later, at the rehab hospital, I did get off that respirator. I saw I couldn’t go home with that device. I was thinking of ways to die to stop it. The other part of me decided I could get off. My respiratory therapists supported this with their comments. They were encouraging. And I did get off. It was the hardest and most painful thing I’ve ever done. But setting my goal beyond what everyone said made it happen.
Just before checkout, the doctor told me and my wife that my life would be bad. Most quadriplegics give up, then stay at home and die early. Such a rewarding and uplifting comment! It jaded my wife’s thoughts about my recovery for a very long time. I did not listen to this Dr. because he was talking about others – others – who do just that. They did not decide to live. I did. I had managed nuclear power plants before I retired to the farm. I learned that you must set goals far beyond what you think you can do. Then, surprisingly, you find a way to do it. Then you do it again. I worked for the hardest leader, well-known worldwide, in nuclear power and learned a lot. If you could stand the heat in that oven, you would be well-baked and well-versed over the years, and I was. I decided – it’s a decision – to live and to set my goal on walking again.
There was nothing special about my childhood or upbringing. It occurred in the 50s and 60s. I was in a middle-class family. My father was a World War II veteran who was stern and hard on me about learning things. My mother was soft and balanced the family. I was blessed. I got a physics degree. Then, in 1970, I got a draft notice. It cut short my new job at Cape Canaveral in the space program. But again, I decided to make the best of this. I enlisted in the Navy and applied for Officer Candidate School. I hoped that they would assign me to nuclear submarines. That did not quite work out. My eyesight distance vision was poor, although it corrected to 20 – 20 with contact lenses. But, during the height of the Vietnam War, the Navy had many other officers with perfect vision. They could go on to serve on submarines. I trained in aviation maintenance and my assignment was to the USS Forestal. Not wanting to be just a staff officer, I decided again to make the best of the situation. I finished my aviation maintenance duties at 4 PM each day. After eating, I went to the bridge of the carrier. I said I wanted to become qualified as a full fleet Officer of the Deck. I would be in charge of the ship for 4 hours at a time, with or without the captain. Everyone recognized my enthusiasm and welcomed me, including the other officers. The ship’s Navigator also noticed me and told me that he was going to help me become fully qualified. That happened. After 2 years, I was reading a Navy magazine. I saw that they needed nuclear officers for the surface fleet. That was another opportunity, and again, I decided to take it. Little did I know that the recruiters asked me if I had ever considered – – submarines. The circle had gone all the way around due to my decision to stretch out. I completed nuclear training. Then, I went aboard one of the best nuclear attack submarines in the fleet. Later, family reasons drove me to resign from the Navy. I had served for 7 active years. I then started work as a lowly maintenance engineer at a North Carolina nuclear station. I decided to do my very best, and others recognized it. After one year, they asked if I would accept a job as the mechanical maintenance supervisor, which I did. One year later, they asked me to be the Manager of the station maintenance department. I quickly accepted. After only a year, they offered me the chance to attend Senior Reactor Operator school. It was very hard. I received my SRO license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Good things kept happening. I achieved goals beyond my hopes by stretching. I was at another nuclear station in Mississippi. I was the Manager of Maintenance, then Engineering, then Operations. I got these jobs by showing I can organize well and set and achieve high goals for each department. This lesson continues. I had been a plant manager at another nuclear station for just 2 years. Then, Commonwealth Edison asked me to join as a site vice president. The station was in great trouble. I turned that organization and the station around. It had excellent performance in 3 years. I moved to corporate. I established a formal nuclear management model based on the leader’s experience. He had turned his experience into a specific method for every step of the organization. All noted my efforts. I moved again. I was able to turn the Nuclear Oversight organization from useless to highly rated. I was able to retire early. I moved to a large farm and an old home in upstate South Carolina. I had lots of heavy and farm equipment, cattle, timber farming, and horses. I was also asked to stay on my company’s Nuclear Safety Review Committee. We visited plants several times a year with other managers. We gave them insights. This extra income added to my perfect world. I did have my own world and everything my wife and I wanted in this world, literally behind iron gates. I loved my horses. I loved to spend time in the barn with them and to ride them. Then, that happened in a microsecond!
After I came home from the rehab hospital without a respirator, I focused on finding a place. They had to have a plan to help me walk again. I also needed to use my arms and hands. I noticed an article about a young lady in Michigan. She had special surgery in Portugal. They transplanted nasal tissue into her spinal cord. Nasal tissue is the fastest-healing sensory nerve tissue in your body. They transplanted it after removing scar tissue. An incredibly talented surgeon did this with a scalpel. They cut into the spinal cord casing. To make a long story short, I contacted several people. They put me in touch with the father of this young lady. He had set up an amazing spinal cord recovery center. Decision time again. I could stay at home with some exercise equipment I found. I could do my best there. Or, I could go for the nearly impossible goal of flying to Europe for the surgery. For legal reasons, I flew to Athens, Greece. I went to a special hospital there with the newest equipment. It was run by a doctor who was friends with the Portuguese Dr. who had set up this program. It was a long flight, surgery the next day , 10 days in the hospital, and a long flight back to the USA. I arranged to stay in Michigan and return home one month each year. I took full advantage of the facilities and the spectacular trainers. My muscular strength and ability to move increased, albeit slowly. After 7 years of never giving up, I was able to stand with a little help. I could walk with some aid, using my feet to lean and kick the other foot forward. That was an incredible day. After that, I returned home to South Carolina to a different house. I was working with home health physical therapists. But that did not work out well. I had good support for the first year. PT management worried about Medicare payments for someone who needs maintenance physical therapy. This is different from the typical home physical therapy for the broken knee, for example, which lasts 6 weeks. I accepted that and found other physical therapy after not giving up. I also increased my use of home equipment to stay strong. I could not walk without the special trainers in Michigan. Sometimes, you have to accept reality and still do your best with exercise. But I decided to stretch. I asked my company to continue my work on the nuclear review Board. I would review documents and critique root cause analyses of equipment failures. This continued for 11 years, beyond anybody’s expectations. There is a time for all things to end, which that did. And once again, the clock kept ticking. Soon, I was 76 years old. I thought like a 35-year-old and refused to simply stop living. I jumped in after seeing ads about publishing. I knew I had more time than most writers and a still active and healthy brain. I am good with computers. I use processes to tell the computer what to do and do all the functions without help.
I have published two books. Now, I am writing one on the proven management system I learned during my senior days in nuclear power. I’m also moving into fiction books about romance. That’s been a special category for me throughout my life!
I hope my story will help you stop procrastinating. You are trying to achieve a special goal that seems out of reach. It is not out of reach. It’s there for you if you set the goal – start with the answer, decide what you want to do, not what you think you can do. That is the secret that I’m letting you see. Take this secret and achieve your goals, surpassing whatever you think you can. I have proven it many times. Setting high goals not only meets them but leads to unexpected new successes. I can do all this without moving one finger, hand, or arm, not to mention legs. You can do it by taking these lessons I’ve explained and doing them for yourself. Once again, your stretch goals and success await you – get started right now.