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Shane Hmiel Working Hard To Come Back

An Opinion


January 2, 2011

By Kim Roberson

Kim Roberson

As we begin a new year, it is easy to focus on all of the things that we seem to think are bad -- in our lives, in the sport of NASCAR, in general. It is very easy to feel “woe is me” over something like your favorite driver having a bad race -- or season -- or having the same person seem to win year in and year out. But as we start to wallow in frustration or anger or pity, stop for a moment and thing about how lucky you -- and they -- actually are.

I want to remind you of the story of Shane Hmiel. Before you think “Why do I want to read about that druggie kid?”, I want you to remember what happened to him.

Yes, Shane had problems with drug use -- problems that led to him being permanently banned from NASCAR. He got himself sober, and started rebuilding his life and his racing career. He found a home in USAC, and was beginning to win races and make a name for himself in this new form of racing. Life was looking up for the 30-year old when a crash during qualifying for USAC’s last race of the season changed his life.

On October 10th, Hmiel was going wide-open through the turns in Terra Haute, Indiana, during qualifying when he lost control, flipped, and hit the outside wall of the track with the top of his car. When the car came to rest, the roll cage was crushed, and Hmiel was unconscious.

He was rushed to the hospital, where it was determined he had a fractured neck, fractured back, bruised spinal cord, broken shoulder blade, and a torn artery. He was placed in a medically induced coma; surgeries were done to insert rods in his back and repair the torn artery. He was given a tracheotomy and put on a ventilator to help him breathe. For the first few days, no one seemed quite sure what was going to happen.

But Shane has persevered. He was expected to be in the Intensive Care unit until Christmas, but was moved out within weeks of the crash, and by Christmas, he and his family had re-located to a rehabilitation facility in Atlanta. The same determination that was helping him rebuild his life is now helping him through the long hours of therapy. He has limited movement in his limbs, and is confined to a wheelchair -- for now -- but there is hope that as his spine recovers, and as he works through his therapy sessions, he will recover as well.

From the week after the crash, his family has taken turns updating fans on his condition via a page on Face book “Shane Hmiel - Road to Recovery”. In a video posted just before Christmas, the family noted “Shane is recovering at the Shepard Center in Atlanta, Georgia, one of the top spinal facilities in the world. He is now breathing without the support of a machine, which doctors said he might not ever do again. His spirits are high, and he is determined to beat the odds.” Shane was then shown, sitting in his wheelchair, and he had a message to share with those who had been supporting him through this challenge.

“I just need to thank all of the people who have prayed for me, that have thought about me, that have done things for me, donated money, donated time, donated -- just everything. It’s been great -- I’m just so excited that there are so many people that have believed that what I’ve done and believed in what my family has done.” Shane then shows viewers a machine that helps work the muscles in his legs, “Makes me feel, one day, I’ll be able to walk.”

“I’m not upset, I’m not mad, I know it’s just a part of life -- people get paralyzed. I’m one of those guys. I’ve got to do everything I wanted to do in my life, so I can’t be mad about that. There’s no reason why I should be upset ’cause I can’t walk. I know this is something God wants me to work through, and I will work through it and I will be one of the best people to come through paralyzation -- I just want to thank ya’ll and tell ya’ll that one day, I WILL be back.”

Earlier this week, Lisa Hmiel, Shane’s mom, posted “GOOD MORNING -- SRY SRY boy have we been busy with family training -- on Jan 11th Shane goes to day program (which is kick ur ass therapy) for 3 weeks. We live independently in connected apartments then after 3 weeks of that THE HMIELWALDS ARRIVE IN PLEASANT GARDEN -- then Shane will attend outpatient therapy daily and enjoy home life -- so so excited thanks!”

So, the next time you start thinking life is just not fair, or that the folks around you aren’t giving you a break; that when you watch a race you find yourself getting angry with your driver, or another driver, or feel like things just aren’t fair because one team seems to have an advantage over the others, take a moment and get a little perspective. No matter how bad things might seem to you, they likely aren’t as bad as the young man from North Carolina who has been working to rebuild himself after an early round of bad decisions. But yet he picks himself up, dusts himself, and starts all over again -- and instead of allowing anger and resentfulness to bring him down, he is looking ahead and thinking of the road ahead, and is hoping that one day, with enough hard work and perseverance, he will one day get out of the motorized wheelchair he occupies right now, and walk along a pit road on his own two feet.

If Shane Hmiel isn’t going to let paralysis get him down, who am I to let a few bumps in my road ruin my week?



You can contact Kim at.. Insider Racing News
You Can Read Other Articles By Kim


The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

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