Nev Schulman is still coming to terms with his traumatic bike accident, which left him with a broken neck and other injuries ... explaining his situation could've been a lot worse.
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00:00It is a real lesson in patience and humility.
00:09Neck injuries, spine injuries are no joke, and I've never had one, but now that I have,
00:15I can really begin to appreciate what it means when people say it's a long road to recovery.
00:21Neve, is there any way to quantify how close this was to even being catastrophically worse?
00:27There was definitely a moment in the emergency room once they determined I did not have any
00:34damage to my brain, which was obviously a huge relief, and much thanks to the helmet
00:39I was wearing.
00:40The next step was determining why my hands were hurting so much, and so the MRI revealed
00:48that I had spinal damage, at which point I could tell the doctors very quickly realized,
00:53we have to get you to another facility that specializes in spine trauma.
01:02So they transferred me to Stony Brook, which has a wonderful ICU unit, and I'm even now
01:11getting emotional just because all of the nurses and doctors who saw me that first few
01:20days post-surgery were so surprised that I was able to move and sit up, and even on
01:35that first or second day walk around, I mean, they all said that it's very unusual for them
01:41to see a patient walking, especially after any kind of spinal injury like this.
01:47So it hit me very, very quickly how lucky I was, considering what could have been, that
01:56I'm here and will make, fingers crossed, a full recovery.
02:01Can you remember exactly what happened when you were riding the bicycle and where this
02:06truck came from, or is it all a blur?
02:09How much of the actual accident do you recall?
02:12It happened very quickly, and I was unconscious, so my memory of the incident is pretty fuzzy.
02:22What I do know, and I mentioned this to a reporter that I spoke to from Long Island,
02:30is that if there had been a bike lane for me, I'm certain this could have been avoided.
02:39So I'm not necessarily becoming a champion for bicycle safety in Long Island, but I do
02:48think it brings up an important conversation, which is that the roads need to be shared,
02:55and cyclists and runners, which is really what I am more than anything, need to have
03:00better space that's designated, because I think a lot of accidents, and I know more
03:06and more people are riding bikes now, and e-bikes, and running, and there's just not
03:11a good system in place for it that keeps everybody safe.
03:14We can't wait to see you up and about again, because like you said, you are incredibly
03:20fortunate, and we know that you're going to make the most out of this gift you've been
03:26given.
03:27So we look forward to seeing that.
03:28Look, I'm ambitiously giving myself the goal to see if I can complete, I had signed up
03:37for the Honolulu Marathon in December, and I had been training to try and set a new personal
03:43best and run my fastest marathon ever.
03:46I think I might have to change my goals a little bit, and just see if I can use that
03:52as an opportunity to complete the Honolulu Marathon.
03:57We'll see, but I'm giving myself that as a goal for the end of the year.
04:02It's in December, who knows, but I definitely, I plan on making a big comeback, and really
04:09making the most of this.