NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – It is National Rehabilitation Awareness Week, and one Lowcountry man is sharing his recovery story after surviving a motorcycle crash.
“I just remember laying there. I could feel my leg was pointed in the wrong direction,” said Daniel Aldridge.
The 22-year-old recalls the moment a car pulled out in front of him at a Summerville intersection when he was riding his motorcycle in January 2021. He spent more than three months at Trident Medical Center, recovering from multiple broken bones and nerve issues. His injuries required nine surgeries.
“It was such a bad time, honestly,” said Aldridge.
It was inside Trident’s Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit where Aldridge regained his strength and learned to walk again.
“Just a lot of walking in general, just trying to build back my flexibility. Lots of time on treadmills,” explained Aldridge.
Besides the physical damage, this incident caused, Aldridge said it also took a toll on him mentally.
“Definitely struggled with quite a bit of anxiety and depression afterward. Still to this day, I have a lot of trouble with driving still and especially when it rains,” he said.
While he continues to face these struggles, Aldridge said he is thankful for his doctors for helping him get back to normal life more than a year later.
“We are taking care of medical issues, but we also look at the big picture. What is important to this person? What was their life like before? Where do they fit in? Trying to get them back to being as whole of a person as they can,” said Dr. Doug McGill, the Medical Director at the Rehabilitation Hospital in Trident.
Medicare recently ranked Trident’s Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit among the top five percent in the U.S. for mobility and self-care, according to hospital officials.