The day began like any other. I awoke to the sound of my friend Chris knocking at my door. He wanted to go to the skate park downtown. I grabbed my skateboard and dashed out the door. Little did I know that this day would change my life forever.

When Chris and I arrived, we stayed in the skating area at first. “Maybe we should go in the street,” he suggested; he was getting bored with the same twists and curves of the park. Knowing that it was very dangerous, we glanced down the street and, seeing no cars, rolled onto the pavement.

As I was doing some flips in the street, a city bus made a quick turn and was suddenly rushing toward me. “Look out!” Chris screamed. It was too late. The bus hit me head-on, and I went underneath it. As I fell, the gargantuan tire crushed my right leg. It passed only to be followed by the back wheel. The next thing I remember, I was looking at the sky, pain shooting through my body.

I tried to sit up and looked down at the same time. I ­couldn’t believe what I saw. My knee was twisted so that the lower half of my leg was sticking straight up in the air. Before I blacked out, I heard the sound of an ambulance.

The paramedics rushed me to the hospital, and I was immediately given a CAT scan. When the doctors looked at the results, their fears were confirmed. My knee was a twisted mess of bone, muscle, and tendons. Continually fading in and out of consciousness, I overheard the doctors saying that if the operation failed, they would have to amputate my leg from the knee down. When I awoke from surgery, my leg was still there; however, the doctor said that I probably would never ­regain full use of it.

After many weeks of rehab, I tried to stand. When I fell to the floor in pain, I tried again. I learned that if I could stand for a certain amount of time each day, I would strengthen my knee. Eventually I started walking. Although it was painful, I took one more step each day. After what seemed like an eternity, ­although in actuality it was a few years, I was finally able to do almost everything I used to do.

After the accident, I could never skateboard like I did before. I began to realize how fragile life is, and that people struggle every day after accidents like mine. This was my struggle.