Paralyzed teen's life is a lesson in courageThe night that changed Tara Accetta’s life forever began with a few beers in a Rockaways bar and plans for a midnight swim in a friend’s backyard pool.
This summer was supposed to be about fun — a last hurrah before facing the rigors of her new school, New York University — and the gorgeous Brooklyn teen and her three pals just wanted to stay cool on a hot July night. Accetta, 19, had been in the Neponsit pool the day before, on the sun-splashed Fourth of July. Now, in the dark, she stood by the 4-foot shallow end of the inground pool, planning to glide across the water’s surface toward the 9-foot deep end. She’d made this type of dive countless times before. This time, something went horribly wrong. “I felt the back right side of my head hit the bottom of the pool,” the Old Mill Basin teen told The News. “My body went into instant shock; I don’t remember being in pain. I floated, like a dead-man’s float. “A friend pulled me out of the pool. I told him, ‘I can’t move my body. You need to call an ambulance. And call my mother.’” Another friend woke Accetta’s mom with the awful news: her beautiful daughter’s neck was broken. Accetta’s torso and legs are paralyzed, and she’s unlikely to ever walk again. Instead of going to college, she’s in a rehabilitation hospital, struggling to train her upper body to do basic tasks such as sitting up straight, and regaining control over her hand motions. She sees her July 5 accident as a cautionary tale about careless teen behavior. “People my age think we’re invincible,” she said from her hospital bed at NYU’s Rusk Institute. “We think nothing bad will ever happen to us. Our parents try to protect us, but we don’t learn until we break our necks in a pool. “There are simple things we don’t focus on, like we drive with the music too loud or hang out in parks late at night.” Her drinking didn’t cause her botched dive, she insisted. She had a couple beers at the bar, then drank water during her final hour and a half there, she said. She thought she was in fit shape to swim. Her heartsick parents are trying to make sense of how this could happen to the girl who’d been swimming since she was a tot.“ This girl lived for summer,” said her mom, Cathy Accetta, 45. “She loved the beach. She adored the water.” At Rusk, Tara spends six hours a day in rehab. She refuses to take breaks during her two-hour physical therapy sessions; she doesn’t want to waste time. A once-simple move such as bracing her arms behind her back and finding her balance requires endless work to master. “It is so incredibly hard,” she said. “It takes so much out of you.” Tara doesn’t know how long she’ll need to stay at the hospital. She was transferring to NYU from Kingsborough Community College, where she got an associate’s degree. NYU is letting the James Madison High School grad defer her enrollment and keep the $20,000-a-year honors scholarship she earned to study early childhood education. Tara still wants to be a kindergarten teacher, as she planned before her injury. Her determination makes her mother proud. “I thought this would flatten her,” said Cathy Accetta, a phlebotomist at New York Methodist Hospital. “She has reserves of strength.” She and her husband, specialed teacher Raymond, 51, must make the family’s Old Mill Basin house handicapped-accessible before their daughter returns home. Family friends are raising money to help pay for the home remodeling, which will cost tens of thousands of dollars. They had lime-green “Team Tara” bracelets made to sell for $5. They’re planning a benefit at the Church of St. Thomas Aquinas in Flatlands, tentatively set for Sept. 28. Their Facebook page will be able to accept online donations to help Tara in the next week. “She’s always been a giving friend who was there for others,” said Steve Orr, one of the organizers. “Now it’s her time of need.” |
Hearing stories like this is bittersweet. I'm so happy that she is okay, but see how easy it is for your life to be taken away. She was young and made some bad choices that night that landed her in the hospital, and injuries that will probably last a lifetime.
She is fighting so hard to fix her bad choices. She is taking it in somewhat of a pride. She accepts that her actions were wrong, but she know has the courage to try and fix, or make the best of situation, that she is now in.
Stories like this happen all the time. Teens making stupid mistakes, and some end more tragic then this one. Being thankful for all that we have, sometimes we forget that things like this can happen.
This girl is extremely brave for her age. She is smart to know that what she did is wrong, but also brave to admit that she made a mistake that night.
Sometimes we have to be courageous to make up for our own actions.
She is fighting so hard to fix her bad choices. She is taking it in somewhat of a pride. She accepts that her actions were wrong, but she know has the courage to try and fix, or make the best of situation, that she is now in.
Stories like this happen all the time. Teens making stupid mistakes, and some end more tragic then this one. Being thankful for all that we have, sometimes we forget that things like this can happen.
This girl is extremely brave for her age. She is smart to know that what she did is wrong, but also brave to admit that she made a mistake that night.
Sometimes we have to be courageous to make up for our own actions.
Power ;~the ability to do something or act in a particular way, especially as a faculty or quality.
~the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events. |
Gallantry ;~courageous behaviour, especially in battle.
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Audacity ;~the willingness to take bold risks.
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