I was formerly an adventure sports athlete, from Extreme white-water kayaking to endurance racing karts and bicycle road racing. When I had moved from my mothers nest I found That competeing in the National points series of Enduro kart racing was just more than I could afford so I settled on the kayaking and bicycle road racing.
While competeing in a training race in N. Virginia, another racer rolled a rear tire off the wheel as I was drafting from behind causing us both to fall to the ground. Despite the moderate cornering speed and wearing a competitive helmet I suffered a burst fracture of the 5th cervical vertebrae in my neck. This caused an imediate paralysis of my body from my chest down and my hands. This condition is known as quadriplegia, despite the fact that my shoulders remain active but weak and always painful.
After being released from Craig Rehabilitation Hospital in Denver, and returning to my new home in Gaithersburg, MD, my family had placed a small, 29 gallon freshwater fish tank to help ease my pain and depression.
Soon I began to really enjoy the slow, peaceful motion since it was more interesting than maury Povich and his endless list of foolish guests.
After several visits to Tropical Fish World, my local fish store, I was attracted to the bright colors of the reef fish and began to dream about a larger coral reef tank with the numerous reef fish and invertebrates. This led to my first reef tank, a 75 gallon tank lighted with moderate florescents and filtered with a trickle wet/dry filter.
While competeing in a training race in N. Virginia, another racer rolled a rear tire off the wheel as I was drafting from behind causing us both to fall to the ground. Despite the moderate cornering speed and wearing a competitive helmet I suffered a burst fracture of the 5th cervical vertebrae in my neck. This caused an imediate paralysis of my body from my chest down and my hands. This condition is known as quadriplegia, despite the fact that my shoulders remain active but weak and always painful.
After being released from Craig Rehabilitation Hospital in Denver, and returning to my new home in Gaithersburg, MD, my family had placed a small, 29 gallon freshwater fish tank to help ease my pain and depression.
Soon I began to really enjoy the slow, peaceful motion since it was more interesting than maury Povich and his endless list of foolish guests.
After several visits to Tropical Fish World, my local fish store, I was attracted to the bright colors of the reef fish and began to dream about a larger coral reef tank with the numerous reef fish and invertebrates. This led to my first reef tank, a 75 gallon tank lighted with moderate florescents and filtered with a trickle wet/dry filter.
