This page last updated 4-2-08.
Hi, my name is Dean Joyce. I was born on April 30, 1974 in Poughkeepsie, New York as the youngest of four children. Since that day I have lived a full life like most people, but have also had to overcome two life-altering events. One as a child and one as a young adult.
(My dad and I in the Mets Bullpen car at Shea Stadium
after I got out of the hospital at age 3).
Just a few days before my third birthday I became very weak and unable to be active the way a normal child would be. My parents had a feeling that something was wrong and decided to call our family physician that evening. The following day I had a blood test and by that afternoon my doctor called with the shocking news that I had Leukemia. I was immediately brought down to Mt. Sinai hospital in New York City where I was able to begin treatment by the best doctors and nurses around. The chemotherapy and immunotherapy showed positive results shortly after the treatment began and I was fortunate enough to go home seven weeks later and continue the treatment on an out-patient basis for a couple of years. I then attended kindergarten and elementary school just like everyone else and by the time I was eight years old the doctors considered me to be cured from the illness.
(Ozzy and I in 1984 at an annual Cancer
fund raiser for the TJ Martel Foundation).
The rest of my childhood was time well spent playing baseball, basketball, riding bicycles, and going to school. At the age of thirteen I started working for my brother’s landscaping business and delivering newspapers. The money was great, and so I became interested in more expensive hobbies such as radio control cars, ATV’s, and then cars and motorcycles in my later teens. After graduating high school, my interest in motorcycles grew, and I eventually decided that it was what I wanted to do for a living.
(My brother (left) and I back in 1987).
In the fall of 1994 when I was twenty years old, I decided to sign up as a student at Motorcycle Mechanics Institute in Phoenix, AZ. I had never visited Phoenix, but I decided to pack my belongings and move there September 1, 1995 hoping for the best. When I got there I settled into an apartment and got a full-time job as a cook in a local restaurant. Classes began on September 18 and I held a 92 average until tragedy struck on October 24, 1995, just seven weeks after arriving in Phoenix.
(Motorcycle Mechanics Institute, Phoenix, Arizona).
October 24th was like any other day, until my friend and I began to ride home from school on our motorcycles. Nearly a mile from home we decided to turn east onto a road we didn't travel much. While accellerating into the third lane an elderly man driving westbound turned across our side of the road and stopped in my lane. My friend was lucky enough to make it around the front of the car, but unfortunately I lost control and fell off my bike. In an effort to protect myself I extended my arms so that my body wasn’t scraping the ground. The gloves I wore had metal palms which offered great protection for my hands, but didn’t help to slow me down. Within seconds I slammed into the side of the car and that was it, my life changed completely.
(My accident scene October 24, 1995 at 12:15pm at the
intersection of 35th Ave and Thunderbird Rd in Phoenix).
Ten days later I awoke in a hospital room with IV bottles and tubes, heart monitors, breathing machines, and everything else needed to keep me alive. My family had flown out to see me and had met my girlfriend that I was dating at the time. When I finally realized what had happened, I was ready to let them "pull the plug". Fortunately they wouldn't, and now I'm here telling everyone about it. The injury was quite extensive and even the neurosurgeons were surprised that I survived. I fractured my skull from top to bottom, had a blood clot in my brain, and broke my neck in three spots. It took four hours of surgery to remove the blood clot and a few small titanium plates and screws to properly reconstruct my skull. The neck x-rays revealed a slightly chipped c1 vertebrae, a fractured c6-c7 vertebrae, and a crushed spinal cord at the c6 level. Due to the head trauma at the time my eyes were non-responsive to light and I was categorized to be in a stage-three glasgow coma (brain-dead). After surgery I remained in traction for three days with fifteen pounds pulling my neck upward until surgeons placed me in a halo brace that stayed on me for fourteen weeks.
(Me in Physical Therapy in late-November 1995.
I could barely hold myself up for the picture).
About ten days after the accident I began to move my arms and was able to comprehend what people were saying. The injury is said to be complete since I have absolutely no feeling or movement below the c6 quadriplegic level. This means no finger movement, weak triceps, and nothing below my chest. I spent sixteen days in intensive care and a little over six months in a rehabilitation hospital. I then began home therapy and out-patient therapy until one year post-injury. Finally, in November 1996, therapy was over and I began to put my life back together. My parents bought a computer to keep me occupied and I soon created a website to provide helpful information to other people in wheelchairs. I passed the New York state drivers test, got a new license, and ordered a 1998 Mercury Mystique from the Ford dealer I worked at in 1994. After driving for a few weeks I decided to enroll as a student in a local community college and in the summer of 1997 I signed up for two classes with the help of a vocational rehabilitation program.
(Me on my couch on February 3, 2003).
Since then it seems like time has sped up. The years have gone by and it is now April '08 and I'm still wondering when all my ideas and dreams are going to fall into place. I opened an automotive business in 2003 and sold aftermarket parts online for almost two years. I then got a shop in Poughkeepsie, NY in December '04 after taking a nice three-week vacation in Florida. I then moved to a much nicer shop, closer to home in Beacon, NY in October 2005 and I am still operating from that location. Other than that, not much else is going on. I think I should probably end this page here and tell everyone that they can stay up to date on me on my MySpace page.