The social forces of the world today have a tremendous impact on a person’s life. Social forces can make you change the way you think, the way you act, and even your personality, especially on early teens. In some cases people don’t realize it is changing them. My brother, Beau, attends school in Shawnee, Oklahoma. He is a 4.0 honor student and president of his class. He plays football, basketball, baseball, and wrestles. He is “Mr. Popular” amongst his fellow classmates, but on February 5, 1999 this would all change. Beau was wrestling at a tournament in Sulfur, Oklahoma on February 5, 1999. He had made it to the championship match later that evening. The match was going well. Beau was ahead 5 to 3 until disaster struck. Billy Thompson, the person my brother was wrestling, had Beau in a headlock. Beau then put his foot behind Billy’s feet in order to trip him, but Billy held on. My brother landed on the top of his head breaking his neck between the first and second vertebrae. Imminently he was rushed to the nearby hospital in Sulfur. The radiologist said he had a strained neck muscle and sent him home in a soft collar brace. The next day Beau went to the doctor in Shawnee and she imminently referred him to the neurosurgeon in Oklahoma City, Dr. Hisie. Dr. Hisie found the break and scheduled a surgery. The surgery lasted about 4 hours. They took bone off of Beau’s him and fused the vertebrae together. After 4 months in a neck restraint, they realized that the fusion did not work. They attempted the same surgery again, but this time putting him in a halo. After another 4 month the fusion had worked. Beau then went through 6 months of physical therapy before he was able to play sports again. Altogether the process took about 2 years. He now is starting practice for the basketball team in Shawnee. After Beau broke his neck, Beau got a lot of sympathy for family and friends. A...
