"New News To Me Every Day": The Past And Future Of Seth's Journey

Meet Seth, fun-loving 19-year-old and Traverse City resident. Like so many his age, Seth loves music, fashion, outdoor sports, and art. But Seth’s life diverged from most on the night of June 27, his nineteenth birthday, when he raced up Peninsula Drive at more than 100mph, lost control, and struck a tree. He’s now paralyzed from the waist down.

Seth Beaudry’s journey over the past six months has been one of excruciating pain, uncertainty, and incredible challenges – though he insists he’s “blessed and grateful” for all he has. He made headline news in the days following the accident, but his story only began that night. The Ticker sat down to hear what unfolded that evening, how he’s recovering, and how art and business might just change his life profoundly again. 

Ticker: What’s the latest with your health?
Beaudry: There’s no crystal ball or solid prognosis; it’s different for every single person. But I believe I’ll walk again. I broke my 11th and 12th vertebrae; not completely severed, so I have neurological sensation and pain underneath my legs. I can’t feel on the outside, but I feel it all underneath. Also, just yesterday I was discharged from the hospital after 11 days. I had woken up, and I felt my leg tightening up and I had a fever. I called an ambulance and it was scary, because they thought it might be a blood clot, and I can die in five hours from a blood clot. They still don’t know exactly what it is, but I have sort of a permanent IV inside my throat now and I’m taking lots of medication for it. I take more than 20 medications every day.

Ticker: We’ve seen photos of you taking steps…
Beaudry: Yes, normally I’ll go to therapy Monday through Friday and I walk on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with a walker, someone just helping straighten one leg as I move. So I’m like doing 70 percent of the work and I’m able to walk. It’s just a really long, long process.

Ticker: If you’re willing, take us back to June 27.
Beaudry: I was with my parents earlier at Red Ginger. And what was crazy was I told my mom that that day I felt like I was walking on air. She just said, “What are you talking about?” So later we went to the (Old Mission) Peninsula with some underclassmen, and one girl was just joking and said, “I’ll race you.” So we were racing but kind of joking. We got out to Peninsula Drive and there were two police cars parked with lights flashing. And as I passed I got direct eye contact with the officer standing there, and it all seemed like it went into slow motion. I just pushed on the gas and right then I knew I made a huge mistake. I was basically paralyzed with fear at that point. My hands and my arms just stiffened, and I was going over 100mph on those curvy roads, and I was scared for my life. Two officers followed me, and right after Gray Road I went around a corner too fast and I just blacked out. I woke up and I wasn’t wearing a seat belt, which actually saved my life because if I was, the whole left side of me would have been crushed. But I woke up and my head was resting on the passenger seat, but my legs and butt were still on the driver’s side, and the car was suspended in the air between two trees. I just remember waking up with a police officer shining a light through the windshield and thinking I couldn’t feel my legs or move them and I was in extreme pain. It took them an hour and a half to get me out; they had to saw the top of the car off to get me out. I was just begging them to hurry. I don’t remember the ambulance, but before they put me under at the hospital a police officer asked me questions like was I drinking, and I said no, and the tests came back as me sober. Even now there are rumors among people who said I was drinking, but I wasn’t. I had an unopened fifth [of alcohol] in the car, but I did not drink. They did surgery the next morning and put two titanium bars in my back and eight screws in my vertebrae.

Ticker: When was the low, emotionally?
Beaudry: That’s a good question, and honestly, it’s day by day. The days after, I realized I was alive and didn’t get any brain trauma somehow, after hitting two trees at 110mph. That doesn’t happen. And it’s easy when you’re being comforted by 25-30 visitors and friends every single day. But when I went to Mary Free Bed [hospital in Grand Rapids] and we got the news of me being paralyzed, everyone just thought that it was old news. But it’s new news to me every day. I stopped getting as many messages and visitors. Every single day has been constant discomfort and pain. After therapy I’d just sit there for a few hours in bed and just cry from the pain.

Now I’m gaining independence, but with that comes responsibility; being paralyzed at 19 is a crazy thing and in a way it’s getting harder; the longer I’m paralyzed, the longer I’m paralyzed. But I’m also getting better; now I live at NeuroRestorative, so I’m more independent. Each day is a blessing. You know, I never thought this would happen. No one does. But what I’ve gained is worth more than any external pleasure I had before. Sure, I really miss wakeboarding and skateboarding and running; those were some of my best memories with friends. That’s gone now. And even last night…there are moments where I break down. I mean, I still have everything the same but I just can’t move my legs. So you break down. But I don’t like to dwell on it. When I was in Grand Rapids it was crazy to see what I could have lost. There was an 18-year-old there who jumped drunk into a pool and is paralyzed from the neck down with a brain injury and wears a halo on his head. It was a spiritual thing for me, too. My relationship with God came from desperation and devastation, and for the first time my life was put on pause and I could sit down and have a lot of time to reflect, draw, read, focus on my business…to use this as an opportunity to make the best of this condition and inspire and motivate people.

Ticker: And now you’re a business owner?
Beaudry: Right. Art is my biggest passion and for the rest of my life I want to be involved in art, music, fashion…I’ve always loved clothes. The company name, “Arête,” is a sharp mountain range, and in Greek, “arête” means acting out your full potential or seeking greatness. So I put my drawings on t-shirts and we’re selling them. And the ironic part is before the accident I wanted to promote acceptance of mental or physical disabilities – that everyone should have value just as a human being -- and now I am, ironically, an advocate for those people. I don't have an end goal for the business, but it is my passion, and we’ll see where it goes.  

Ticker: And you also aspire to be a public speaker, right?
Beaudry: Yes, I’ve already spoken at a church and on January 22 I’ll be speaking at a middle school. I’ve also applied to be a TEDx speaker, so yes, it’s another passion of mine. You know, everyone is kind of paralyzed in some way, with fear or insecurity or whatever. There are billions of people walking around every day paralyzed, but you just can’t see it.