On August 17, Elliot Finnestrand started second grade at Norges Toppidrettsgymnas (NTG). During a motocross accident on the same day, the 17-year-old broke his back in multiple places. He was paralyzed from the chest down.
– Elliot is a great athlete. The transition from how his body was before, and how it is now after the accident, I don’t know if it can be described. They couldn’t be two more different lives, says his mother, Mia Finnestrand, to Dagbladet. She also told about the incident a iFinnmark
“We have a new daily life to which we are trying to adapt to the best of our abilities”, she signs the blogthat he created after his son’s accident.
PARALYSIS: The 17-year-old was paralyzed from the chest down after the accident. Photo: private
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– Maximum bad luck
Mia describes what happened as trauma. A great trauma for the whole family: herself, Elliot’s father and older brother.
– It’s also a trauma to others around us, to Elliot’s friends and schoolmates, who were there when it happened. The greatest of all is his trauma, Mia tells Dagbladet.
The track on which his son got hurt, on which he had already driven many times, he says.
– He drove in a corner that he drove hundreds of times, had the utmost misfortune, got hit and knocked off, he says.
I had to have a walker after the drama in the hospital
– The nightmare
On the blog he writes about the day his life was turned upside down. He refers to Elliot here as “little brother”.
“I was working in my home office when the coach from Norway’s Top Sports Gymnasium called me. Little brother had a training accident and is injured. He can’t feel his legs, but it has already happened and it may only be temporary.” .
– I don’t remember what I thought when I got that call. I realized it was serious. This is the nightmare of all motocross parents, explains Mia today.
The son had broken his back in several places and was immediately sent to Ullevål hospital for intensive care and operations.
MOM: Mia describes what happened to her son as every motocross parent’s nightmare. Here the two are pictured together when Elliot was a child. Photo: private
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– I do not want this
He describes the 17-year-old’s point of view there as follows:
“In the hospital, the little brother is connected to many hoses in a dark room with many other children. He has big, scared eyes and says” I don’t want this. “
Not even his mother, Mia.
– It was so hard. It was like walking around in a dream or a nightmare, which hopefully will pass tomorrow, she says.
Elliot had two major surgeries in the hospital and had screws inserted into his back. He is now in Sunnaas for rehabilitation.
– He has received good help so far, but he has spinal cord damage and there are no offers in Norway. We are therefore looking for further treatment opportunities abroad. Elliot is so young. He has a long life ahead of him – and anything is worth trying.
She continues:
– We want to study alternatives to make him improve and we are now examining the possibilities of stem cell treatment; nerve stimulation and strengthening of existing nerve cells.
Dream catcher on a motorcycle
Junction created
Elliot can only start this after he turns 18, which is still about six months ahead. By then, the family hopes to have the financial means available to bring him to this type of treatment as quickly as possible.
This is also why a joint was created for Elliot.
Mia started the blog to put her thoughts in order, she says.
– In the first phase it was difficult to talk about this with people. After I started writing my thoughts and sharing them with the people around me, I received a good response from others, especially from other mothers who have children with difficulties. Recently, for example, I received a greeting from a person who called herself a “companion mother”.
Mia also says that the support from NMK and the people in the community has been great.
– I try to write about hope; how easy it is and how difficult it is to have hope. It floats like that and you feel stupid when it disappears, because hope is vital in such a situation, she says.
