Overcoming Obstacles!

Overcoming Obstacles
Debilitating injury hasn’t stopped Gary Roberts from pursuing life to the fullest
Posted February 21, 2008 by HP

Gary Roberts, a 25-year HP veteran, spent the first 43 years of his life challenging his physical abilities. Roberts enjoyed mountain biking, squash, skiing and football (soccer) to name a few. Now it’s Roberts’ physical abilities that challenge him.

Roberts' disabilities are classified as a C3-4 incomplete quadriplegic, meaning he has some use of his arms and legs, but not full use. It also means that he has enough feeling in his body to leave him in chronic pain below his waist and in his shoulders.

The accident

On June 9, 2000, Roberts, now a TSG team leader in the Global Competency Center in Bracknell, England, headed out on his motorcycle with a few HP friends and colleagues for a weekend stay in North Wales. Before meeting up with the whole crew — and less than 10 miles from his home — he was struck by an elderly motorist making a questionable U-turn on a two-lane highway.

Roberts struck the back end of the car as it crossed into his lane and was thrown from his bike — landing in the roadway and fracturing one vertebra in his neck and injuring two others. He lay unconscious and paralyzed from the neck down.

“I don’t really remember anything,” he says today. “Just a hazy recollection of, ‘I’m about to hit something.’”

Roberts was taken by helicopter to a local hospital where he regained consciousness. Almost immediately, he willed himself off the ventilator and feeding tube. After two weeks, he was transferred to Stoke Mandeville Hospital, a place renowned for its treatment of spinal injuries.

Prior to the accident, Roberts enjoyed an active life. "For me this has been very hard,” he says. “It might have been easier to adjust if I had been a couch potato to start off with."

Regaining movement

There was hope. In fact, Roberts spent 10 weeks in a “halo” -– a device that kept his head and neck completely immobile.

Unable to read or watch TV, Roberts spent most of his time staring at the ceiling and waiting for visits from his wife.

“It really gave me time to think about my life and what I could do with it,” Roberts says. “It also gave me a renewed appreciation for my wife, Heather. She drove an hour and a half one way each evening to see me six days a week while at the same time taking care of our two teenage boys and working full time. I lived for those visits from her.”
When the halo was finally removed, the doctors found that Roberts wasn’t completely paralyzed. Gradually, he regained some feeling in his arms and legs, and felt excruciating pain in his shoulders and below his waist.

The spinal cord injury hasn't stopped Roberts from seeing the world. Here, he and his wife Heather enjoy the view at the Grand Canyon. Roberts can walk for short distances but relies on a wheelchair for long excursions.

Support from HP

Roberts says that HP has been very flexible by giving him the time he needed to recover and by making accommodations for his new disabilities.

“HP Occupational Health came to my home and installed some furniture to help me manage better from my wheelchair," he says.

Roberts is now working from home full-time. He uses multiple HP desktop and notebook PCs for work, to keep in touch with friends and maintain a website about his life.

Roberts is determined to regain and maintain as much mobility as possible. "It gets very hard sometimes, both physically and emotionally," he says. “Some days I want to give up with the constant chronic pain but I know it’s a straight line up or down so I’ve got to make the best of what I have. Pictures don’t do justice to the lasting effects of the injury.

Life today

After nearly eight years since the injury, Roberts is still quite determined to overcome as many physical challenges as he can.

“I go for a short walk everyday,” he says. “Some days, it’s very painful, but I still get out. I know that if I don’t walk or exercise, things will just deteriorate.”

“Thanks to recent computer technology and working for HP, I’ve been able to keep my job,” he says. “I’m really lucky to like my job — it's motivating for me — and to be fully supported by HP. I do miss the people contact, but I appreciate the opportunity to work from home.”