SPOKANE -- A young Spokane man is adapting to a new way of life after surviving a diving accident that nearly took his life, but instead left him paralyzed from the neck down.
Sunday, on a special 90-minute edition of KREM 2 News @ 10 on both KREM 2 and KSKN 22, Robert Yamada and his parents, John and Renae, sit down with KREM 2 News to talk about the drastic changes their lives have endured since the accident, and their new found strength and hope.
"It's really strange that my life went from being the active person that I was to being in a wheelchair and not being able to use my arms and legs," Robert tells KREM 2 News.
Robert, 21, was swimming with friends on Lake Roosevelt this August. He dove into the water, hit his head, and didn't surface. His friends, knowing critical life-saving skills, pulled Robert to the shore, stayed by his side, and called for a medical helicopter to take him to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane.
Since that day, Robert has been in hospitals, rehabilitating and re-learning how to perform the simplest daily activities. He's undergone intense treatment in the Northwest and at a special clinic in Denver, Colorado, all the while with his parents, John and Renae, never leaving his side.
Now, Robert's doctors say he has come a long way, and is strong enough to live at home, in a highly-specialized apartment designed just for Robert in the downstairs of his parents' house.
"I always wake up looking forward to the day ahead, because Robert is still alive," says Renae. "So if I get bogged down in the sadness of it, I remind myself of that."
Join KREM 2's Abbey Gibb on Sunday on KREM 2 News @ 10, after coverage of Super Bowl XVIV on CBS.
