One quadriplegic man ditched the medication.
Not a single painkiller or sleeping pill taken for the past six years.
Steve Cohen has turned to woodwork as his therapy instead, handcrafting benches, tables and end tables out of reclaimed wood.
Six years ago, he wasn't carving wood, he was scuba diving and charging the surf. Known as "Scuba Steve," he's a true waterman. But on a routine dive off the coast of Georgia, his equipment failed when he was surfacing.
He suffered from decompression sickness, often known as "the bends," where too much nitrogen gas fills the body. Cohen had passed out on the boat and woke up in the hospital paralyzed from the neck down.
“You don’t want to digest, you don’t want to accept the fact that you’re paralyzed,” Cohen said.
With no insurance, Cohen was fortunate enough to be in the hands of Brooks Rehabilitation. The center took him in for the first few months after his accident and helped him start the healing process. Cohen claims one afternoon he had an out of body experience and that's when things turned around for him.
“I would take the fork and tape it to my left hand and try and stab a green bean. It took me one month to stab a green bean," Cohen said. "I was looking down at myself and I said to myself, Cohen, you’re going to have to take this one green bean at a time.”
One green bean at a time turned to one day at a time, and just eight months after his accident, "Scuba Steve" was back in the water.
“You can have a bad minute, you can have a bad hour, but you can’t have a bad day," Cohen said. "You better focus that anger towards something positive.”
After Brooks Rehabilitation helped him get started, he found himself with no money and no way to make a living. Cohen then focused these frustrations towards carving wood.
Eventually, through carving and sculpting, he became better at using his arms and hands.
“It’s amazing when you can feel the wood for the first time again,” Cohen said.
With endless support from his girlfriend Kathy and the Jax Beach Community, Cohen has been able to make a new life for himself. He truly believes in locals supporting locals in order to build a strong community.
Cohen's work is all over local shops and restaurants in Jax Beach. They can be found in the Salt Life shops and restaurants, Sunrise Surf Shop, and Leaf & Bean coffee shop.
“As a quadriplegic, there’s no better feeling," Cohen said. "It makes you feel like you’re part of society.”
Cohen will cater his work to anyone and said there are no limits to what he can create. If there's one thing we can take away from "Scuba Steve’" it's that life is all about attitude.