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An avid outdoorsman, Paul Neufelder of Columbus, , had done this many times. Only this day was different.

“I didn’t know this pond,” he says. “I didn’t know how shallow it was.”

Letting go of the rope swing as it arched over the water, Paul dived head first into the four-foot deep pond. Landing on his neck, the teen didn’t feel any great panic or fear.

“It’s like you see in the movies – the tunnel,longchamp pas cher, the light, the feeling of moving toward something. It was all there,” Paul recalls. “I felt very peaceful. It was comforting.”

As his buddies continued their water fun, Paul drowned,jordan.

“They didn’t realize I was in trouble,” Paul says. “When I didn’t come up, they thought, ‘Oh, Paul is just horsing around.’”

When the realization finally hit that Paul was not surfacing, the friends fanned out to search the pond bottom. One of them stepped on his hand. When Paul was pulled to the surface, he was legally dead.

“That’s what I was told,” he says. “I had been underwater for nine plus minutes. I was dead.”

But a woman who just happened to be at the site knew CPR. While some friends raced to the nearest house to call an ambulance, the woman performed CPR and revived Paul. “She saved my life,Obama’s America Fundamentally transforming produc,” he says.

The woman – Helen Deppe – was a last-minute substitute for another adult who was supposed to be chaperoning the group. “The other woman didn’t know CPR,” Paul says. “If she had been there instead of Helen, I wouldn’t have survived. I was just lucky.”

And that simple statement – “I was just lucky” – illustrates the philosophy by which Paul has lived his life,sac longchamp. Instead of cursing his bad luck because of the accident, Paul looks at the good that happened. “Good, bad, indifferent, it’s all luck,” he says. “You have to deal with what you have and move on.”

A NEW LIFE

For Paul, that took five years before his condition was stabilized. At Riley Hospital and the Indiana University Medical Center, Paul had five major surgeries, including a cyst that developed on his spine, further damaging his spinal cord.

The accident happened June 23, 1978. Paul was 14 years old. For the rest of his life, he will be a , paralyzed from the neck down. Paul uses a motorized wheelchair, which he can operate with limited mobility in his right arm.

No longer able to live the active life of before – his childhood goal was to be a forester - Paul began developing another interest. “I had always drawn,” he says. “With so many hours on my hands, I started painting.”

Using his mouth, Paul’s drawings and paintings are based on geometric shape and organic line. “I never know what I’m going to paint until I get started. Then it just flows.”

After graduating from North High School in Columbus, Paul attended Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, as a communications major. “I chose Wright State because of its accessibility,” he says. “Not everyplace is accessible for wheelchairs. I majored in communications because I was told that I couldn’t make a living as an so there was no sense wasting my time studying art.”

Not giving up on his dream, Paul went to the California Institute of Fine Arts in Los Angeles, which was founded by Walt Disney. “They teach nothing but art there,Final Score,” he says. “The students are great.”

But Paul did have a rude awakening one morning while in Los Angeles, an event that cost him most of his best paintings at the time. “I was asleep. It was about four in the morning and I heard the slap of my waterbed,longchamp,” he says. “I thought, ‘Great, my waterbed has a leak,peuterey prezzi.’ Then the whole room exploded.”

The Northridge earthquake took 57 lives and injured another 9,000 people, causing extensive damage to buildings and infrastructure. Measuring 6.9,jordan femme, the earthquake struck on Jan. 17, 1994. “Some of my friends broke down the door to get me out,” Paul says. “My paintings were in another building and I never saw them again … But I was lucky that people came to help me.”

BECOMING AN ARTIST

Where did Paul get such a positive outlook on life? “My parents,” he says. “They have always been that way. Even before I broke my neck, my Dad was always saying that ‘Life isn’t fair’ so you have to make the best of it. Another of his favorite things is ‘Leave it better than when you found it.’ That’s what my parents have always tried to do and it’s what I try to do,Baltimore Print Studios Letterpress Workshop - Baltimore art Examiner.com.”

Paul’s’ father Dan, mother Janie and two sisters are all educators, as is Paul. Over the years, Paul has taught in his home studio in Columbus, at Art Columbus, VSA Indiana, Stone Belt and other places. In particular, Paul says he enjoys working with at-risk youth and autistic children. In 2003, he was chosen the Indiana Youth Institute Youth Worker of the Year.

Having supportive parents, as well as friends and mentors has helped Paul reach his goals. “My parents are outstanding people,peuterey sito ufficiale. They have never hesitated when I wanted to do something. They say, “You have a dream. What is it? Let’s help make it happen.’”

And that brings us to the second part of Paul’s story.

OR BUST

An artist and teacher for almost a quarter of a century, Paul was watching the year 2011 come to a close and decided there was something he wanted to do – travel to another country and expand his work as an artist and teacher. At first, he thought India would be a great destination. Then he considered Vietnam. Finally he settled on Thailand.

Paul’s interest in Thailand dates to a comparative religion class he took in his youth. He chose Bangkok as his base because of its physical accessibility for people using wheelchairs, including its trains, subway and accessible cabs. Thailand is not an expensive place to travel and has accepting attitudes toward people with disabilities and other differences, he says.

“On Christmas night, I decided it would be Thailand or Bust,” he says. “It might sound like an impossible goal but it’s not. I made up my mind and you would be surprised how many people have been stepping up to help make it happen.”

At 49 years old, Paul says he realizes, “It is now or never… I am ancient,peuterey uomo. I am not just old. As a quad for the last 34 years, I am ancient.”

Using his computer – “a gift from God” – Paul has made numerous contact in Thailand and is set to leave this week. He and his companion of the past two years, 19-year-old Kristin Bay, a Certified Medical Assistant, will drive to Chicago where they will catch a flight to Seoul, Korea, then on to Bangkok. Total flying time will be about 28 hours.

Paul’s’ wheelchair will be stowed in the plane’s cargo hold along with about five suitcases of medical supplies. Paul and Kristin also will take a laptop computer and a video camera. “We’re supposed to make a 90-minute video while we are there. It will will be shown here in Columbus at YES Cinema when we get back next year,” Paul says.

Next year? That’s right. Paul and Kristin plan to stay in Thailand for 11 months. Paul will be teaching children through the Father Ray Foundation, as well as working with a traditional artist in the Chiang Mai district.

“I’m excited and I’m terrified,air jordan,” Kristin says with a laugh. “I’ve never flown on a plane before. I’ve never traveled. At first my Dad was worried but now my parents are my biggest supporters. They said it will probably be the best thing that could ever happen to me.”

Through selling artwork and fundraisers, Paul has raised almost $15,000 for the trip. “I’d like to raise about $6,000 more be pay expenses while we’re there … We could easily have given up but I know it can be done. It’s going to be a great adventure,longchamp.”

With a grin, Paul begins reciting lines from a Dr. Seuss tale:

“Oh, the places you’ll go!
… Today is your day
You’re off to Great Places.
You’re off and away …
Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying.
You’re find the bright places were Boom Band are playing.
With banner flip-flapping, once more you'll ride high.
Ready for anything under the sky.
Oh, the places you’ll go!”

For more information: Contact Paul Neufelder at