Reporter shares inspiring journey with spinal cord injury

September is spinal cord injury awareness month. It’s a cause that hits close to home at our sister station down in Georgia. Wednesday marks six months since their Senior Reporter Brian Roche returned to work following a spinal cord injury. He’s sharing his story in hopes of inspiring others.

Roche’s journey started back in July of 2021.

“I feel my legs give out entirely and I just fall backwards onto the floor and suddenly I was like, I can’t move my legs at all. What’s going on?,” Roche recalls. “I had been having trouble sleeping and I’d been feeling a lot of pain in my back. I thought that this was just that, I threw it out.”

Roche says fortunately he had his phone on him and was able to call 911.

“I found out a few hours later at the hospital that I had an abscess that had formed on my spine and had compressed it and it affected my T6 to T9, and I was unable to really feel anything from about the chest down.”

He was 26 at the time and remembers thinking for a guy in his twenties who had never really had medical problems before, it wasn’t supposed to be happening to him.

“When my neurosurgeon told me that the longer we wait, the more likely it is that you’re never going to walk again, I said to myself, okay, let’s do this.”

That surgery successfully decompressed his spine. It was only the first step on a long road to recovery. But what caused his spinal cord injury in the first place? Doctors had a surprising answer for Roche, “They said they believe this was caused from an infection from an ingrown toenail . . . the doctor said he’d only seen this like three or four other times in about 20 plus years.”

Following surgery, Roche put in endless work and after a year and a half of recovery efforts he was able to return to work, on his feet. It’s a journey Roche credits his support system with helping him find his way through.

“My mom actually said it best, you gotta keep hope during something like this.”

Now Roche is using his story to try to help others struggling with spinal cord injuries.

“It’s really difficult to put into words, the best thing I can tell you is you have to keep the faith. I think that goes a long way.”

Roche says he works with a personal trainer to continue to grow stronger. And to help share his story with others he put together a documentary chronicling his journey. To learn more about Roche’s story, you can view his documentary here.