MOUNT PROSPECT, Ill. — J.J. O'Connor has returned to the Skokie Skatium many times over the last 16 years, but he knows this year is different.
That was the location where, on Oct. 24, 1995, O'Connor, then a senior at Loyola Academy, was playing a midget-level game for the McFetridge Patriots against the Skokie Flyers. O'Connor hit the boards at an awkward angle, fracturing three vertebrae in his neck and sustaining spinal-cord damage.
He has been in a wheelchair ever since — 16 years able-bodied, and now 16 years reliant on others for such tasks as eating or getting into bed.
O'Connor, 32, lives in Mount Prospect now, but with a much different outlook than many people would expect.
"It's bittersweet," O'Connor said, reflecting on the anniversary of his life-changing accident. "I'm very happy with my life; I'm very happy with the things I've been able to accomplish, and I've had a lot of fun experiences — a lot of things that would not have happened had this disability not happened."
O'Connor is the volunteer chairman for USA Hockey's Disabled Sector, and the general manager for the USA Patriots, a team organized to develop young sled hockey players into elite athletes.
"Who knows what I would have been doing? Who knows if I would have been involved with USA Hockey at the level I'm at, and been able to affect others and give them the opportunity to play the game that I love? There are so many great, positive things that I've learned, and I never would want to trade those away for anything, even for walking again.
"At the same time, as a human, I have to say I'm now at the halfway point. Half of my life has now been spent in a wheelchair. When I got injured, I never envisioned being in a wheelchair for 16 years."
O'Connor graduated from Lake Forest College and owns three SportClips locations. He still is extensively involved in hockey in the suburbs, throughout the state and nationally.
"My anniversary (of the injury) has been different every year. Some have been harder than others; sometimes, it has come and gone, and I didn't even realize it," O'Connor said.
O'Connor's many trips to Skokie Skatium have included games involving the Chicago Hornets sled hockey team he founded. He now serves as its general manager.
Each visit, though, he always remembers that fateful night.
"Every time that I'm there, I always go to corner where (the accident happened) and reflect, at least for a few minutes. No one really knows what I'm doing; it's just something I do," O'Connor said.
He is classified as a C4 incomplete quadriplegic. "I can feel throughout my body and am able to stand. I have movement in my right arm and can take a few steps."
Still, he needs 24-hour care.
O'Connor works out daily, including exercising on a StimMaster bicycle. And he walks once a week on a treadmill designed for someone in his situation.
"I try to keep my body in the best shape that I can," he said.
One thing O'Connor doesn't need to work out, or hasn't lost, is his smile. He is seemingly upbeat 24/7 — and yet he doesn't know why.
"I don't know why it is that I'm able to cope, be smiling and happy all the time," he said.
In the weeks, months and perhaps even the first year after the accident, O'Connor wasn't as positive. He admits he was more down and upset, and wondering, "Why me?"
O'Connor eventually chose to go to Colorado for therapy. His life and outlook changed during a trip to Pikes Peak.
"J.J.'s story and message about overcoming personal obstacles and focusing on the important things in life has made a big difference in encouraging so many others to do more with their own lives," said Jim Smith, USA Hockey treasurer
"I went there with the thinking, or hope, that, after the therapy, I'd go home normal," O'Connor said. "When I got hurt, I never envisioned that I'd be in a wheelchair for 16 years. I didn't understand the scope (of the injury). At the time, I just thought it'd be a month, or a couple of months, or a year. I just thought it was a bad injury that required a lengthy rehab.
"In Colorado, they basically told me that there was nothing they could do for me, and that I needed to go home and get on with my life. That was devastating, heartbreaking, because they basically were telling me that I wasn't going to walk, at least not anytime soon. At the time, I didn't know how I was going to have a life (without walking). That was a tipping point.
"I had a conversation with myself — and whatever powers that are out there — while looking at Pikes Peak. I knew I had two options: be upset and sad, or make sure that no one ever sees that and just think that every day is a great day. It was a conscious decision."
He has stuck to it ever since.
O'Connor has taken on multiple roles within the hockey community, locally and nationally. In addition to his role with USA Hockey, he is the webmaster for the Amateur Hockey Association of Illinois (AHAI), a local governing body.
Smith, a Chicagoan who sees O'Connor almost daily, is constantly amazed at his friend's perspective.
"I was on the doorstep of death 16 years ago," O'Connor said. "I now know that each and every day is a bonus; it's one more day than some thought I might have.
"So, I really have no reason to frown. It's all smiles. it's all good."
J.J. O'Connor is single, has never been married, but does go on dates from time to time.
He doesn't play for the Hornets, though he could. Instead, he satisfies his competitive side by playing power soccer for the Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association Fire.
That soccer team won the Presidential Cup Division in June in Flowery, Ga. The United States Power Soccer Association is the governing body for the sport, the first competitive team sport designed for power wheelchair users.
The disabilities of athletes on the team include quadriplegia, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy. The game is played in a gymnasium on a regulation basketball court. Two teams of four players battle it out with a 13-inch soccer ball.
But most of O'Connor's time is spent around hockey.
"Hockey has been good to me," O'Connor said. "It always was my favorite sport. So doing the things I now do allows me the opportunity to stay involved with the sport that I love. I really enjoy being a part of USA Hockey at the national level."
There are four disciplines within USA Hockey's Disabled Hockey division: sled hockey, special hockey, standing amputee hockey, and deaf or hearing-impaired hockey. O'Connor tries to empower others to help grow the sport.
"Our main focus is to get more players with disabilities out on the ice, enjoying the sport," O'Connor says.
He also is integral in the disabled division's rules, registration, education and more. He was elected to the chairman position in 2004, the same year he founded the Hornets.
"There's always something to do hockey-related, and that's OK because that's what I love to do," O'Connor said. "Watching others enjoy the sport of hockey makes me enjoy it, makes me smile.
"If I can't be on the ice playing, as I did 16 years ago, then this is the next best thing. And in a lot of ways, it's a lot better.
"When you're in an administrative role, as I now am, you see over and over how so many other people may have been affected by something you did. It's a lot of internal satisfaction, and that's a win-win for everyone."
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Information from: Daily Herald, http://www.dailyherald.com
ROSS FORMAN (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald
November 09, 2011
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