James Durham: ‘Beautiful injury’ prompts student to pursue motivational speaking

 

James Durham doesn’t take life for granted because he has lost his more than once.

After a motorcycle crash in 2011, his heart stopped eight times. Doctors said he could be in a coma for decades, but he defied the odds.

Three years and 12 surgeries later, Durham is “on positive steroids” and has become a Seminole at Florida State University Panama City.

•••

Durham was an “average college student.” He had attended five colleges in the Dallas area and hoped to become a real estate property manager.

That changed Sept. 22, 2011.

On his way home from dinner with co-workers about 9:30 p.m., a car slammed into his motorcycle, throwing him across the pavement. As he lay on the side of the road, he was bleeding from his head, eyes, nose, ears and mouth. His skull was shattered, his spleen exploded and his heart had stopped.

He was airlifted to University Hospital in San Antonio, where he was revived eight times and surgeons had to remove part of his skull to prevent his brain from swelling. Doctors said there was nothing else they could do; it could be nine to 23 years before he came out of a coma.

Five weeks later, Durham woke up.

He continued to baffle doctors at rehabilitation facilities, learning to talk then walk, retraining the right side of his brain to compensate for the injured left side and even passing a driving test. Through it all, he said, he pushed himself as hard as he could for a quick recovery.

“I was learning how to adapt out of my cocoon,” Durham said. “They were teaching me not only how to be alive again but how to adapt and spread my wings.”

He went home June 22, 2012.

After a family vacation that July, he decided life in Panama City Beach would be simpler with less traffic and fewer distractions than in Dallas.

•••

Although Durham seems like any other college student, he faces obstacles every day because of his “invisible disability,” a severe traumatic brain injury (STBI).

He is blind in his left eye, he often gets word meanings mixed up and he is uncertain what he will say next. “It’s like I have 20 different radio stations playing in my head at all times,” he noted.

But he hasn’t let that or anything else stand in his way.

“He knows what he wants to do with the rest of his life and is now going for that goal,” Lead Admissions Officer Casey Lathem said.

After earning his associate’s degree from Gulf Coast State College, Durham has come to FSU Panama City to study Professional Communication. He hopes his education will help him become a motivational speaker and share the power of positivity. He already has given talks at Second Chance of Northwest Florida, a local nonprofit agency serving adults with brain injuries and their families.

“I’m on positive steroids times a million,” he said. “I just keep giving every day my all no matter what, and I just try to lift others up.”

Durham said he wants to inspire others to pursue their own dreams no matter what obstacles might stand in their way.

“If I can do it, imagine what you can do without leaving this beautiful world,” he said.

Lathem, who helped Durham determine his major, said he already is inspiring the FSU Panama City community.

“I love how he shares his story with everyone that he meets, yet smiles the entire time while talking,” she said.

Durham said he wants to show everyone how your attitude affects your life and the people around you.

“Negativity is a poison,” he said. “It’s like a shovel, and all it does is keep digging you deeper and deeper.”

His enthusiasm is infectious, Lathem said, and every meeting with Durham leaves her smiling.

Durham now sees his TBI as “this beautiful injury,” which has taught him to appreciate the simple things that often get overlooked — like breathing.

His new outlook on life has made all his pain and struggle worthwhile.

“If I could go back in time and do it all over again, I would do it all the same way,” he said. “My TBI adventure has been amazing.”