2013: Kody Peraita
Kody Peraita is a paraplegic due to diving accident, breaking his cervical spine, who is an amazing young man that refuses to give up, keeping a contagiously positive attitude.
Working with several organizations, Kody, his brother and parents, were flown in to San Antonio from California
Experience of a lifetime – Recordbuck Ranch and Swollfest donated the trip for Kody and his brother to Recordbuck in Utopia, TX to harvest 320” nad 350” Bull Elk
Wade’s Taxidermy donated the two mounts and shipped to their home in CA
From Kody’s Father:
On Memorial Day weekend, 2011, my 16-year-old son (Kody) who was an avid baseball player, starting varsity shortstop, and a sophomore in high school, was involved in a tragic, life altering accident. While Kody was at the beach with a friend, and after just arriving, he ran into the water to cool off. When he approached the waters edge he decided to dive into the oncoming wave. When Kody dove into that wave there was a sandbar hidden under the water behind the wave and Kody struck his forehead on it. The force of Kody hitting his forehead on the sandbar shattered his C4 and fractured his C5 vertebrae, which led to the immediate onset of quadriplegia. As Kody lay face down in the water unable to move, he could only turn his head ever so slightly to get air into his lungs. At this point, Kody began drifting out into the open water. Fortunately for Kody, and for all of us close to him, Kody's friend's father (Mike) noticed something wrong and swam out to him. When he arrived to where Kody was floating, he rolled Kody over onto his back. Kody then took a big gasp of air into his lungs and told Mike, 'I can't swim, I broke my neck." With the assistance of an off-duty nurse and an off-duty lifeguard jogging by, Kody was brought ashore, cared for and ultimately transported to the emergency room.
At this point is when my wife (Kim) and I received the horrible phone call, telling us that our son had been injured. When we arrived at the emergency room, which was about an hour away away from our home, we met with Kody who was in the CAT Scan room having tests done on him. When we walked into that room, I'll never forget the first words out of his mouth. He said, "Hi Mom, will you scratch my nose for me." Carol, I nearly lost it at that point, I thought to myself, my poor son can't even scratch his nose. While Kody was having x-rays, CAT Scans and MRI's done to him prior to his surgery, we (Kim, Garrett and I) met with Kody's doctor/neurosurgeon. He then told us what happened to Kody and what he was now. I understood the medical terms he was using, because of my employment, but my wife Kim and Garrett did not. Kim then looked into my eyes, which were welled up with tears and swollen and asked me what the doctor had just told us. I told Kim, that our baby was paralyzed, a quadriplegic. We then held each other, as well as our younger son and cried. When Kody was finished with his tests we met with him again. Not sure of what was happening or going to happen, we explained to Kody, he would be going into surgery. When they came into the emergency room to get Kody, he told the trauma nurse, "Let's Do This," which has been his saying since the tragic event. Kody's initial surgery lasted about 8 hours. The doctors replaced his C4 vertebrae with metal and left his C5 vertebrae alone to heal on its own. Kody spent 79 days in the hospital and in acute therapy fighting to recover and gain strength from his paralysis. When Kody was released from the hospital, he began the long process of rehabilitation at a place called Project Walk, which is located in Carlsbad, CA. Project Walk uses exercise-based recovery and has helped Kody get to the point where he is using some bicep muscles and leg muscles. Kody has the ability to move his fingers and toes ever so slightly and also has some muscles that are coming back in his legs. In the past year Kody has even initiated some steps on his own while re-learning to walk.
Approximately a month ago while the four of us were sitting around talking in our living room, my younger son (Garrett 15) asked me, "Dad, do you think we can hunt this fall?" You see Carol, prior to Kody's injury we (Kim, Kody, Garrett and I) use to hunt as a family of four every fall. It was a great bonding experience that we all enjoyed. We would duck or dove hunt with our Labrador every fall, as well as hunt for Mule deer. In the fall of 2011, which was the year Kody was injured we had planned to do an elk hunt in Colorado, which my wife and I had done several times, before we had children. But in the fall of 2011 we were going to take our boys for an elk hunt for their first time, since they were now old enough to be responsible enough to hunt big game and new the true meaning of being in the outdoors. As you read above, Kody's injury happened in May of 2011, and we had to cancel that hunt. So when Garrett asked me, "Dad, do you think we can hunt this fall?" I told him I felt guilty leaving Kody behind to go hunt. When Kody heard me say this he said, "Dad, I'll be able to hunt again, and I don't mind just sitting there watching you, Garrett and mom." When I heard this from Kody it tore my heart out, but I realized he does have the ability to hunt again, if put into the right situation with the right people, with the right equipment. So when I woke up early this morning and began watching the Outdoor Network on television, I decided to try and reach out for help using social media. I decided to try and send a message to Chris Brackett from Fear No Evil asking for help. Not expecting to get a response, he typed me back and gave me your number. I was so excited that somebody of his celebrity stature actually took the time to read my message and respond. When I read his message, I immediately called you.