Sgt. 1st Class Tim Brumit, a Green Beret who serves with the 7th Special Forces group, was on a pontoon boat when he heard desperate parents crying for help.
Their daughter was in the water, struggling in choppy waves, heavy winds, and rain. Brumit, a father himself, did not hesitate: He dove into the water to save the girl.
That heroic gesture would come at a heavy cost, though. Brumit broke his neck.
The water was too shallow and his head struck the sand. Another soldier dove in and pulled his body onto a surfboard and waited with Brumit in the water and the rain until help arrived.
The little girl was rescued by another boater.
Brumit is now hospitalized and paralyzed from the neck down, but his family has hope that he will walk again one day. His father, who also served with Army Special Forces, said that Brumit was told that he would remain paralyzed for the rest of his life, never to walk again.
But they refused to accept that.
Just days later, Brumit already regained the use of his arms. According to his father, he told his surgeon that one day, he would walk back in and shake his hand. And they credit his neurosurgeon, Dr. Colby Maher, for much of his progress, who took him into surgery within hours. He’s had two surgeries so far, and is now undergoing physical therapy.
One of his visitors, Fed Barona, survived a similar diving injury, and also was told that he would be a quadriplegic for the rest of his life. He can now walk. Barona told Brumit to be willing to push himself and not to believe them when they tell him he can’t do something.
Another of Brumit’s visitors also has regained the ability to walk after being paralyzed from the neck down, Staff Sergeant Gabriel Spencer, who was in an IED blast while deployed to Iraq. Brumit has regained some feeling beneath the waist and can very slightly feel it when his legs are squeezed. It’s a small victory, but it’s one that surprised his doctors and physical therapists.
Despite his injuries, Brumit says that he would dive in again to save the girl.
And the Brumit family is relying on their family motto to get them through the challenge of walking again: What the mind can conceive, the body can achieve.
