What Do You Have That's Worth Fighting For? As I sat down to write this month's column I was headed in one clear direction. But as is often the case, life happens, and e...

Living in the Place Called Gratitude

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Original Publication Date:
2007

It was a trick that had won him XGames gold in 2001, a trick he spent many years and countless hours in the foam pit perfecting, a trick that included so much rotational force that few riders landed it consistently or tried it in competition. But Murray wasn't just any rider. He had pulled the maneuver successfully in the past. He never took unnecessary risks and even if his signature move—the double-back flip—was in the plan, he wouldn't go for it if conditions weren't right. Unfortunately, that Friday in Baltimore, things looked right but went terribly wrong.

On June 22, during the season opener for the AST Dew Tour, Pro BMX Dirt Jumper Stephen Murray attempted to throw a double-back flip on the final set of jumps at Camden Yards Sports Complex. At the full in-air height of the trick, Murray became separated from the bike and came crashing down, falling more than 10 feet. In a sport where bruises and broken bones are commonplace, severe injury is rare. At some point all riders crash. That's what happens—they crash, it hurts, and they get up, but they do get up. This fateful day Murray didn't. Several riders called the scene one of the most gruesome they had seen in a BMX event.

Murray landed in the worst imaginable way. The impact crushed the vertebrae in his neck. On the trip to the hospital, he flat-lined and was revived by the team of EMT's in the ambulance. In the days to follow, Stephen underwent two seven-hour surgeries to fuse together the bones in the upper spine and place a small titanium cage around the bones from C2 to C6 to prohibit future movement of the spinal cord. The American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) classifies Murray as ASIA-B Incomplete. That translates into—he has sensory but no motor function below the region of the injury. Doctors are uncertain of his long-term prognosis or if he will remain paralyzed permanently. The BMX community is small but connected—a band of brothers who ride like the wind for the love and the thrill of the sport. Prize money is small compared to major sports and there is no organized insurance fund to protect its athletes. They have come together, bonded as one, to support Murray in his time of crisis. The road thus far has been a bumpy one.

Initially it was touch and go, going from improvement to regression and back again. The fact that he survived the crash can be considered a miracle. Family and friends walked that fine line between optimism and realism. Tons of tears, plenty of prayers, and 21 weeks later, Murray is vent free, oxygen free, and trach free. "YES—YES—YES—AT LAST NO FOREIGN OBJECTS IN MY MOUTH OR THROAT." (These were Stephen's exuberant words at the time.)

The doctors have said that being so fit and healthy has been key and a vital component in both sustaining the shock of the injury and in his ability to progress in his recovery. While this is decidedly true it is not the end of the story. The one intangible that can't be measured, the one factor that is obvious in Stephen's bright, shining eyes, and in the words he is able to so enthusiastically share, is his amazing gratitude. He is a guy grateful to be alive, grateful for his family, friends, fans, and grateful when he realizes he can still move his shoulders or make a finger slightly twitch. He is a guy who has discovered this special place, where he now resides, where miracles do come true and hard work, guts, and sheer will to fight can equal a renewed chance at life. This 27-year-old Brit expatriate has a beautiful wife, Melissa, and two adorable boys, Mason and Seth, who make him grateful and give him reason to fight. He has an entire sport pulling for him, hanging on his slightest change, contributing financially and emotionally in every way possible, who make him grateful and give him reason to fight.

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