Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
BOURBON - Darwin Hurd, 27, is living life with much more difficulty now than ever before.
The day after Christmas marked a life-altering experience for Hurd.
"You never think this would happen to you," Hurd said.
Hurd owns a .22-caliber rifle and an eight-year-old chow. Together, the gun and the dog proved to be a bad combination.
On the morning after Christmas, Hurd recalled, his chow got a little "snippy and mean."
"They'll tear you up," Hurd said of a chow's temperament.
That morning, Hurd feared the dog's temperament. In attempts to calm him down, he tapped the end of the rifle on the wood stove burner. The gun is never loaded, Hurd said, and he doesn't hunt.
"It's an old, old gun," Hurd said. His chow knows when he sees that gun, Hurd means business.
But something unexpected happened that morning as his wife, 8-year-old daughter and 9-year-old niece looked on.
"It must've been one freak accident," Hurd said. "To me, it's an embarrassment."
As Hurd tapped the base of the gun on the wood stove, a bullet shot out of the rifle and entered Hurd's right side. The bullet forced its way into his spine, leaving Hurd paralyzed from the waist down.
Hurd said he told his wife he knew he was paralyzed as soon as it happened.
"I'm dead from the waist down," Hurd said. "But the bad part of it all is the nerve pain."
Hurd said he's on all kinds of medicine to counter the chronic pain.
"I have faith," Hurd said. "I'm going to walk again."
Doctors have not said anything to Hurd of walking again, but, still, he's determined. He said he does have movement in his left leg from his knee up to his hip.
"That's a sign," Hurd said.
He didn't have this movement in the beginning. It's something that has evolved, maybe from his faith.
But, faith or no faith, the family is tired.
"We're just drained," Hurd said. "The whole family is."
He said they're all doing the best they can.
"We're doing all right," he said.
But some days Hurd is angry with himself for what has happened. He said he's always been an active dad and he's used to "getting out there and doing a lot of things."
"I hate it," Hurd said of his disability and his wheelchair.
But he also said: "It's taught me a lot."
Wednesday could be another life-altering experience for him. The doctors have told him there are three fragments from the bullet stuck in his back. The fragments could simply be pinching the nerve as opposed to the alternative: slicing of the nerve which would result more than likely in permanent paralysis.
Hurd will travel to Indianapolis Wednesday for a doctor's appointment to determine the positioning of the bullet fragments.
"That's going to determine a lot," Hurd said.
In the meantime, Hurd is staying at his parents' home while his house is undergoing remodeling to accommodate this "freak accident."
"I want to go home," Hurd said.
But his house is not easily accessible to him until the remodeling is completed.
"This is very expensive," Hurd said.
Included in Hurd's remodeling to accommodate his new needs is an addition of a bathroom and bedroom in the basement of his home and a chairlift for upstairs.
Other expenses include a special mattress for Hurd to sleep on to avoid bed sores, certain pants for Hurd to wear and, of course, a lot of medicine.
Insurance does its part, Hurd said. But sometimes its part just isn't big enough.
"The best thing they've done for me is my wheelchair," Hurd said.
Although he's grateful for that, the rest of the expenses far outweigh the cost of a wheelchair.
Hurd and his family are accepting donations at: c/o Mary Hurd 207 W. Quad St., Bourbon, IN 46504 or call 342-4408.
