I dove into a pool at a party and woke up quadriplegic
A New York woman’s life changed forever after she dove into a shallow swimming pool — and ended up a quadriplegic.
“I remember diving into the pool and hearing my neck crack, then nothing,” Dana Barrett, 31, told SWNS of the freak accident, which forced her to spend over a year in the hospital as she could no longer move or breathe independently.
The freak accident occurred on June 29, 2019, while the former restaurant manager was attending a pool party at the home of her boyfriend Seamus Cantwell, 31, on Long Island. After winning a round of mini-golf, the reveler decided to celebrate by diving into the pool — but misjudged the depth and hit her head, snapping her neck.
“The pool was shallow at one end and deep at the other, I went to run and dive into the deep part but didn’t run far enough,” Barrett described. “As I hit my head, I actually heard my neck crack.”
She added, “I floated back up to the surface and I couldn’t move — but could hear people around me.”
The unfortunate woman’s friend’s initially thought she was “messing around.” However, then she passed out from a lack of oxygen as she couldn’t breathe on her own on account of being paralyzed from the neck down, SWNS reported.
Barrett’s boyfriend, a bartender, attempted to administer CPR in front of party guests but to no avail. The petrified gal awoke two days later at Stony Brook University Hospital, where she’d been airlifted after being intubated and put into a medically induced coma to save her life.
“I thought I was having a nightmare at first, I felt like I was being held down really hard,” described Barrett. “I would try and lift my head and I felt like it was being pulled back down.”
That’s when she learned the devastating truth: the accident had rendered her quadriplegic. This proved a crushing blow to the active Barrett, who did gymnastics since she was a kid, and played volleyball, basketball and lacrosse throughout high school.
After an arduous two months, the New Yorker was transferred to Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Center for another two months, during which she started physical therapy.
It was there that the patient relearned how to speak, eat and drink, and even move her head. She also tried out different wheelchairs in preparation for a semi-independent life when she gets discharged.
However, her Sisyphean hospital stay proved to be longer than anticipated. After getting transferred to a nursing home, Medford Multicare, Barrett contracted pneumonia, which forced her to return to Stony Brook for further treatments.
To make matters worse, the COVID pandemic began around that time, which resulted in the hospital curtailing her daily visits from her family and boyfriend. When Barrett returned to Medford a month later, she couldn’t see them at all due to the nationwide lockdown.
“I was on lockdown with no visitors and couldn’t leave my room,” lamented Barrett. “All that time alone got me really depressed realizing my life would be like this forever.”
She added, “All I would do was watch TV and sit on FaceTime with various family members so I wasn’t on my own.”
A glimmer of hope came in 2020 when Barrett was referred to a nonprofit group home for people with trauma injuries. Despite being assisted by nurses, she had a lot more freedom than before.
Barrett no longer relies on a ventilator to breathe, instead using a tracheal tube and a pacer that stimulates diaphragmatic contractions, effectively forcing her body to breathe.
“This was a step back to normality,” said the grateful patient, whose arrangement made her a lot less anxious than before. She said she also “started eating a lot more” as she “was just 100 pounds (45kg) at this point.”
Best of all, Barrett said she “finally got to see my family and friends again and it made me feel like I actually had my life back.” “My friends would come over and when lockdown got better I could go out to the restaurant I used to work at,” she added. “It was my first outing and it was amazing. It was so good to see everyone and just be outside again.”
After a comparatively stress-free stay there, Barrett finally raised enough money through fundraising to erect her own little cottage on the property, which she moved into in November 2020. That way she could have both her independence and assistance when she needed it.
The bungalow is reportedly outfitted with an electric lift that allows her to get in and out of bed. She also uses her phone to control her lights and TV while relying on her Amazon Alexa to work everything else.
“People don’t realize the lack of independence that comes with being quadriplegic,” lamented Barrett, looking back on her ordeal. “I run on a battery now, so if something goes wrong, I can’t breathe, move or talk.”
Despite her predicament, the Long Islander says she tries to focus on “how lucky I am that I still have so much.”
“I can still eat and drink and talk, I have my home and my family and friends,” she gushed. “I even got to meet my newborn nephew.”
Nonetheless, she wants to use her saga as a cautionary tale. “But I want to remind people how dangerous diving can be — so make sure you are aware of your surroundings,” she said. “I dived in that pool millions of times before — but it’s so easy to misjudge.”
