Man nearly paralyzed after bad fall now on road to recovery

WLWT spoke with Paul Westhafer, his wife Betsy, and his surgeon Justin Virojanapa about his recovery after a fall that nearly left him paralyzed.

The Westhafers were returning from a Tennessee boat ride last year when a storm rolled in, and Paul slipped and fell down 20 stairs while racing inside.

“My head was split open and kind of hung down and, they called an ambulance and got me out of there,” Paul said.

After being initially treated nearby, Paul went to the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute for further treatment.

“He had a fracture of his first and second vertebrae, so that they were kind of disconnected from each other,” Virojanapa, DO, assistant professor of neurosurgery in UC's College of Medicine and a UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute physician said.

After a complex spinal surgery that lasted hours, Paul awoke pain free. He is now celebrating one year since the fall.

“We're spending the anniversary week with the people that were with us throughout all that,” Betsy said.

“I wonder why I was put through this and came out so good, and the one thing I could figure is I could help somebody else,” Paul said.

Read or watch the WLWT story.

Featured photo at top of neurosurgery performed at the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute. Photo/UC Health.