'My goal is to walk': Paralyzed varsity quarterback on his accident, and his recovery

Gavin Kamoschinski should be halfway through his final year of high school varsity football, as the starting quarterback for Vancouver’s Notre Dame Jugglers.

Instead, the 17-year-old is recovering at GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre, paralyzed from the waist down after breaking his neck jumping headfirst off a dock into Okanagan Lake in early August.

“I have dove off tons of times before, but I just hit the bottom funny, and from there I couldn’t move much of my muscles. And I was under the water thinking, I’m a bit of a goner, because nothing could really move. But my brother ended up pulling me up, my little brother,” said Kamoschinski.

He spent weeks on a ventilator at Vancouver General Hospital before being moved to GF Strong in mid-September to continue his recovery with physical and occupational therapists.

”They have started me off pretty slow here, so I do about three things a day, and they will slowly ramp me up from there,” said Kamoschinski. “They don’t want me injuring myself because I tend to push things, and they know that."

The teen is focusing on regaining more use of his arms and hands.

“I have noticed tremendous differences," he said. "I could barely touch my face before, and now I’m moving my arms everywhere.”

While he’s happy with the progress he’s made, Kamoschinski has bigger goals in mind.

“I know in the end what I’m pushing towards," he said. "My goal is to walk, and I won’t let anyone stop me.”

His father Jeremy Kamoschinski admires Gavin’s determination, which he partly attributes to his son’s lifetime of playing high-level sports.

“We are firm believers in state of mind, as well. Be as positive as you can be. Challenges and small victories are huge, and that’s what he’s grown up with through coaching, and that won’t change. So we will keep adding those up, and see where they go,” said Jeremy.

Gavin agrees his background in competitive sports has been an asset in his recovery.

“I think it’s helped me through even just mentally dealing with the accident,” he said. “Like my coach used to say: short term mindset, focus on little things. And if you have something bad happen, forget about it. I’m not trying to fully forget about (the accident) but I’m also not going to mourn on it and just sit there and pout. I have work to do, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Regardless of how much he’s able to recover, he wants to keep football in his life.

”I think it’s going to play a big part, wherever that may be. It might not be on the field, maybe as a coach,” said Gavin. “Honestly, I don’t know what that holds for me and I don’t know what’s going to happen, truly. So (I'm) just taking it one day at a time, just really charging through with the support of my parents.”

Gavin will remain at GF Strong until February, when it’s hoped he will be able to move back home with his family.