At some point after a life-altering injury, the acute crisis begins to settle. The surgeries slow down. The hospital room becomes a rehab room, then a living room. People stop asking how you’re doing every hour.
And then comes the harder question: Now what?
It is the question survivors describe over and over, in their own words: “I didn’t know who I was anymore.” “My life would never be the same again, and once I accepted that, I didn’t know how to live it.” “All that was gone. What now?”
That question is real. And it does not have a quick answer.
But others have sat with that same question and found their way through it. Here are three of them. Their circumstances are different. Their injuries are different. What they share is the decision to keep going, and to build something meaningful on the other side.
These stories are not meant to minimize what you are facing. They are meant to show you that the path forward exists, even when you cannot see it yet.
On March 26, 2001, Phoenix Police Officer Jason Schechterle was sitting in his patrol car when a taxi traveling over 100 mph slammed into him from behind. His car burst into flames. He was trapped inside.
Jason survived. But the road ahead demanded everything he had. He suffered severe burns to over 40% of his body and underwent more than 50 surgeries. His appearance changed dramatically. Tasks most people do without thinking had to be relearned, one at a time.
In the early days, the weight of what had happened was almost impossible to carry. The person he had been before that night, a police officer, physically capable, certain of his future, was gone. What came next required him to find out who he was without all of that.
The answer surprised him. Today, Jason describes himself as the luckiest person alive. His story is one of life, rebirth, and transformation. He speaks, advocates, and lives with a sense of purpose that the fire could not reach.
Read more about Jason’s journey and his book at burningshield.com.
At 25, Steve Emt had a clear picture of his future. A Division I walk-on at the University of Connecticut. An All-State basketball player. A former West Point cadet with his whole life ahead of him. He felt invincible.
Then, in the early hours of March 24, 1995, a single decision changed everything. Steve blacked out behind the wheel at 85 mph. He woke from a coma days later in a hospital bed, paralyzed from the waist down. The career he had imagined, the athlete he had been, the version of himself he had counted on, none of it was coming back.
“I could have played professional basketball in Europe. I could have played professional soccer. All that was gone. I messed up. What now?” Steve reached his lowest point in those early weeks, questioning everything.
His turning point came in a therapy pool. It was there that he made a decision that guided everything that followed: he needed to change his thinking, and he needed to forgive himself.
That decision set a new course. Steve became a teacher and a high school basketball coach. He earned a master’s degree in education. He found wheelchair curling through a chance encounter with a stranger who simply went out of his way to include him. That one act of kindness launched a career as a two-time Paralympian and 10-time national champion representing Team USA on the world stage.
He now travels the country speaking to students and organizations about resilience and the power of choice. His core belief is steady and clear: “We’re all in charge of our thoughts, our actions, and therefore our consequences.”
“We all have greatness within us. When you find it, go all in.”
Learn more about Steve and his work at steveemt.com.
In December 2011, Karen was a working nurse in Los Angeles when she came down with what felt like the flu. She went home to rest. Within two days, she could not breathe. Her mother drove her to the emergency room at three in the morning.
Karen was placed in a medically induced coma for 14 days. She woke up on Christmas Eve, ventilator in place, unable to speak. She noticed that all four of her limbs were bandaged. When a doctor finally sat down to explain what had happened, the choice he presented was stark: amputation of all four limbs, or death from the bacterial infection that had sent her into septic shock.
Without hesitation, Karen said yes. Save my life.
She spent five months in the ICU, followed by seven months of rehabilitation out of state. She relearned how to navigate the world relying on prosthetic limbs. When her workers’ compensation case moved toward settlement years later, Karen faced a new kind of complexity: a process full of unfamiliar terminology and decisions that would affect the rest of her life.
She did not sit back and let it happen to her. She took notes. She looked things up. She asked her Ringler settlement consultant the same questions repeatedly until she understood the answers. “I had to be my own advocate,” she said. “At the end of the day, this is your life.”
Today, Karen is settled into a life built on a foundation she helped shape. Some days are harder than others. She takes it one day at a time. That steadiness, she says, is what keeps her moving forward.
“I just try to stay positive. I have a great support system. And I take it one day at a time. That’s my big motto.”
Karen’s story was originally shared on Ringler Radio. First name used to protect privacy.
Jason. Steve. Karen. Three very different circumstances, three very different outcomes, and one shared truth: the life that comes after a catastrophic injury is not the end of the story.
Recovery is not linear. Some days are harder than others, even years later. The question of “what now” does not get answered all at once. It gets answered slowly, through small decisions, quiet progress, and moments you do not expect.
What each of these stories also reflects is that healing requires a foundation. Emotional support, community, and time are part of it. So is the practical security of knowing your financial needs are covered while you rebuild.
At Ringler, we work alongside injured people and their families to build settlement plans designed for long-term stability, giving you the space to focus on what matters most. When you are ready to understand your options, we are here.
Your story is not over. It is still being written.
A customized settlement plan from Ringler considers all the options and can provide hope and a secure future for injured people.
Learn more
Add Ringler’s Award-Winning Podcast Ringler Radio to your favorite player. Subscribe Here
