Wesley Dean Baker is my name, and I am going to share with you my story.  I hope you will bear with me.

I was healthy until June of this year.  I was working at my job (worked at a factory; I operated a press), and I somehow got my arm caught in the press.  Needless to say, I was very badly injured.  One minute, I was working; the next, I woke up in the hospital in terrible pain.

I don't remember much after that, but the pain continued.  It was some of the worst pain I'd ever felt in my life!  It was then when I found out the worst:  I had lost my arm as the result of an overwhelming bacterial infection that threatened to take my life.  It was horrible!

At first, I was depressed, extremely depressed.  I didn't know how I was going to function with only having one arm.  I didn't know if my friends would stand by me or abandon me because I was no longer able to do things as I once did.  I felt alone, hopelessly alone; I felt even God had abandoned me. 

I wanted nothing more than to kill myself.  I didn't want to live my life as a person with a handicap.  I'd always been so active, on the go:  I didn't know how I was going to play sports (football, baseball, etc. al) with just one arm.

I was in the hospital for weeks.  It took me a long time to get over the infection/surgery.  I had therapy; it was hard, but eventually I learned that even with having one arm, my life was definitely not over:  I still could do a lot of things, I just had to do them a different way was all.

It's now November 13.  In a few weeks it will be Thanksgiving.  Then it will be Christmas.  I have since fully recovered from my accident back in June, and I'm getting back to living my life.  What's helped me the most, I think, was the loving support of family and friends and relying on God to get me through this dark time in my life. 

While I still have days where I feel sorry for myself or deal with the issue of "phantom pains", those days are, thankfully, becoming less and less, and I am regaining my old life back.

I am no longer working; I am trying to get on SSDI.  It's not easy, but people have been providing me with my needs (food, money, etc.); it's been wonderful.  I call myself blessed, extremely blessed.  I have my family, my friends/church family, the love of a Saviour who will never abandon or forsake me, and most of all, my ability to do many of the things I loved doing when I still had two arms. 

I am learning to live with my disability.

I do get workman's comp as a result of the accident.  I know it wasn't my fault; it was just something that happened.  That helps, but it's only a temporary solution to a permanent situation.

Until I get my disability (however long that takes!), I will just have to trust in the Lord to get me through and know that He will provide for all my needs; I don't need to worry about anything as long as I have the Lord on my side!

I will go now.  Have to go to therapy.  I will write in here again with more of my story; until then, take care and God bless!

~Wesley Dean Baker, Nashville, Tennessee.  :)

*To be continued.*