Paralysis — not defeat

Snowboard crash alters medical student's future

When 31-year-old Gael Yonnet's head hit the snow after a 20-foot jump last weekend, he knew his snowboard helmet would not be enough to break his fall.

With four years of medical school under his belt, Yonnet knew the pain in his stomach and the numbness bellow his belly button meant one thing — he was paralyzed.

"It's a feeling you can't explain. I felt like I was touching somebody else when I touched my leg. I knew it was over," said Yonnet, a University of Utah medical student whose crash landing in the USA snowboarding tournament Saturday left him paralyzed from the waist down.

The French native's accident thrust him into a role reversal, landing him in a bed in the neurology unit at the University of Utah where only days before he had been doing rounds while studying to become a neurologist.

"In the last three days I understood a lot about pain and how patients should be treated," Yonnet said Wednesday.

Simple procedures like rolling over to allow nurses to slip back supports behind him are now monumental tasks that he couldn't appreciate as a medical student, Yonnet said.

Yonnet's dream of becoming a doctor brought him to Salt Lake City from his hometown of Bordeaux, France, 10 years ago. Yonnet now lives with the parents of an LDS missionary who taught him about The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints.

After joining the church, Yonnet came to Utah to study and hone his snowboarding skills in the little spare time he has between passing his board exams and applying for residency.

Yonnet doesn't plan on giving up either of those dreams anytime soon.

Although Yonnet's crash severed his spinal cord, he was already talking Wednesday about entering the paralympics as soon as he's able to learn monoskiing in place of his snowboard.

"I need new motivation in life. I'll just dedicate my life to a new thing," he said. "I never made it to the real Olympics, so maybe this is my only way to get to it."

As for becoming a doctor, Yonnet said he's still on track, although it might take him a little longer to get there. He now hopes to use his medical experience to find ways to stimulate leg muscles with electronic shocks or even invent a contraption to actually lift his legs with strings.

Dr. David Renner, a mentor to Yonnet and the director of the adult neurology residency program, said school officials are working to "ensure he graduates."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he becomes interested in a field like rehabilitation medicine. It will take on a new personal meaning for him," Renner said. "He'll surprise himself and do amazing things with this strange hurdle he's been asked to overcome."

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