When I was growing up, I loved to work with my hands and build things. It really did not matter what; I just really enjoyed building and using my hand as well as my imagination. I never expected that I would grow up to be a woodworker as my primary career. I have been a woodworker since I graduated high school three years ago. Four years ago, I got in a bad car accident while on a drive celebrating my graduation. I thought it was going to prevent me from doing my work. I was wrong, and instead, it made me work harder and make better things.
Two years ago next week I was in a bad car accident. My father wanted to take me for a drive in his sixty nine Camaro. He and I put in a great deal of costume work. We pulled up to a red light, and he and I swapped places. I was driving, and he was the passenger. This was huge as he has never let me drive his Camaro, no matter how much I asked. When the light turned green, he told me to floor it. I did as he said, and when the light turned, I felt all eight hundred horsepower spin the rear wheels before they grabbed and launched us. Just as we got to the middle of the intersection, there was a car coming at us from the left at what seemed like eighty miles per hour. He hit the driver’s side door, my side. I blacked out.
I woke up in the emergency room along with the driver. It turns out he was drunk and was going to be charged with a DUI as well as attempted murder, seeing as he was flying. Thank God he and I thought it would be a good idea to put airbags and half roll cage; those modifications saved our lives. The doctor said to me that I had a ruptured large intestine from the impact of the airbag, and I would need a temporary, possibly permanent, colostomy procedure. My parents and I gave him the go-ahead, and the procedure was done. When I woke up, I decided to continue the childhood love of woodworking.
When I was released from the hospital, I wanted to find a woodworking job, but it was hard as all the places wanted the previous experience before hiring. I decided to make my own business, and since that day, I have been flourishing. I have been busy just about every day since I began my company, so to speak. I have many repeat customers. I make anything from wooden statues to tables. I have even been able to work with some celebrities from some of my favorite movies and music. This has been such a surreal experience. I never expected that getting an ostomy would lead me to this, but here I am. Having the ostomy bag is not that bad. The doctor decided that it would be best if I had it permanent, and I did not complain. The bag restricts my movement from time to time, but I am still able to get my work done and produce breathtaking results.
As a woodworker with an ostomy bag, there are a few challenges that I have overcome and learned to work around. I am actually happy that the accident happened because if it did not then, I’m sure I’d be wasting my time at college trying to figure out what I want to do.
Ostomy Business 