After being told you are a vegetable by doctors and will never walk and work again, many would probably resign themselves to their fate.
Of course, there are others who will always look for a second opinion and fight on despite the odds stacked against them.
Gabriel Singh did not sit in the corner and wallow in self- pity after such a grim prognosis.
In truth, the 37-year-old was even more determined to defy doctors’ expectations of what he could and could not do in life.
The fact that he is out of the wheelchair and indulging in physically strenuous activity, constantly challenging his body’s capabilities, is testament to his indomitable spirit to recover from being a “vegetable.”
Singh was involved in a car accident on September 7, 2008 at Navua while he and two friends were travelling to Pacific Harbour.
The impact of the accident put Singh in a coma in Suva for 18 weeks during which he was fed through pipes inserted into his body.
The ninth vertebrae in his spine had been injured in the accident which left him in a wheelchair.
“Everyone including my family thought that was it for me, that I would spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair,” Singh shared.
“However I felt that this was not my fate. I did not envision myself being in a wheel chair for life.”
The former Jai Narayan College student frantically held on to life, clinging to the hope that he would one day be able to walk, play and do the things an able-bodied person could.
It would take some time before he could achieve all that.
Singh subsequently spent three years in hospital in Fiji, with the last six months at a facility in India where he underwent an operation to remove a pipe, or tracheostomy, that had been inserted into his throat for breathing purpose.
With the pipe removed from his throat, Singh went on to recover remarkably within a three-year period.
He basically pushed himself to the limit.
“For three years I have been training almost daily and this involves running, free weights and cardio exercises,” said the Wainividio, Navua native who is the eldest of three siblings who now reside in Melbourne, Australia.
Singh, who is an Informational Technology specialist, had to give up a promising career after the accident.
He had been involved with mobile phone provider Digicel when the company had been making inroads into the South Pacific over a decade ago.
The young man was also involved with Ba Provincial Holdings and Pacific Agencies as an IT Manager in earlier years.
His IT career took a backseat to recovery as Singh defied medical opinions of whether or not he could recover fully.
The doctor’s advice during his recovery period in hospital basically motivated him.
“The doctor told my father that I wouldn’t be able to walk, talk or maintain a normal job because of my condition. He said that I would not be able to leave the wheelchair,” said the bachelor.
However, Singh continued to push himself and went against the express orders of his doctors not to attempt to leave the wheelchair.
This he did and eventually he started walking again, and since then it has all been uphill.
“My voice isn’t normal yet but now into my sixth year since the accident, I feel it is getting better,” said Singh who communicates with a noticeable rasp in his voice.
The Navua man still encounters stereotypical thinking about his ability to function at his best as an IT man after the accident.
“People don’t get it that you don’t need a good voice to be able to fix a computer,” he said.
“I have had many job interviews and breeze through the first stages but when I reach the last stage they usually tell me that my voice is the problem.’
These days Singh is a picture of health and immerses himself in routine exercises and takes one day at a time.
A music aficionado, particularly the rock genre, he is now manager of local band Street Sounds, apart from engaging in sporadic IT work.
In between managing the band in Suva, Singh spends time with his elderly parents who have always been beside him during his recovery period and who lovingly helped with medical bills when it mattered.
Although he still carries scars of his horrific accident, Singh believes that he has proven that proper medical care alongside the right mental approach can take a person from a vegetative state to life and vigour.
“Doctors are not God, they will tell you what they think, but the ability to recover ultimately lies in your hands. It’s up to you to push yourself and see what the results are.”
