Can you imagine being unable to scratch an itch on your leg, swat away an insect crawling on your arm, to wipe your mouth or clear your own airway?
Bellefontaine resident Alex Malarkey has bravely navigated this reality for the past two decades, after being critically injured and paralyzed in a high-spinal cord injury following a car crash when he was 6 1/2 years old in November 2004.
The energetic and witty now-27-year-old, who loves to crack jokes and spend time with his canine companion Lucy and other friends and family, is raising awareness about spinal cord injuries. The Pittsburgh Steelers fan has created a special challenge that a total of five people have completed thus far, to help them gain empathy relating to what it’s like to spend about an hour in his shoes as a quadriplegic.
Alex said he began contemplating this idea of a challenge when he was 15 years old and a student at Indian Lake High School. He’d go on to graduate with honors from ILHS in 2016 as one of the class valedictorians, not an easy feat considering he and his mother Beth would have to wake up hours before school started each day so all of his equipment could be loaded into their van.
“After all of these years, I’ve learned that no challenge in life is easy,” he said this week at his city residence, accompanied by his mother and dedicated caretaker.
“I’m not asking people for pity, but for understanding. Most people don’t understand what this is like. People don’t understand some of the hard parts.”
Beth, who has a special role in carrying out Alex’s “backboard water challenge,” said he created the challenge “to help people to understand the reality of what he goes through, the realities of living life needing to depend on other’s hands to help you.”
Despite Alex’s traumatic brain injury and high spinal cord injury, with a tear above his C1 vertebrate right below his brain stem, Beth noted that miraculously, his intelligence and mental capabilities have remained intact following the accident.
“His mind is fine; he’s very intelligent and deeply insightful and he’s able to clearly articulate his needs. What works and what doesn’t..that knowledge has been gained by lots of grueling experiences, especially as a very young child.”
This week, Hollie Hubbard took the plunge and joined the supportive group of individuals who has successfully completed Alex’s challenge. She said it was an honor to be asked by Alex and related that he texted her the day before to check in, enthusiastic about her involvement.
Other supporters who have aced the young man’s challenge include Wendy Parker, Blythe Moorhouse, Morgan Coppel and Jenny Linger. Wendy, a physical therapist who has become a close family friend since working with Alex from a young age after the accident, even completed the challenge twice.
The first portion of the challenge involves being strapped down on a backboard for an entire hour, with the person’s hands and feet tied so that they can’t move.
“It’s uncomfortable, reflecting the daily discomfort of immobility,” Alex said. “The idea of doing it for an hour is, just think of how hard it is to do for an hour; imagine doing that for years.”
About 20 minutes into this part of the challenge, Hollie said, “My nose is itching. It’s terrible and a bug just flew in my ear.”
After one hour strapped on the backboard, it was a relief when Beth helped to untie the straps on Hollie’s arms and legs and she could stand up once again.
“It was harder than I thought,” Hollie explained, noting that her arms and legs were numb. “I feel kind of emotional too. Mentally, it’s hard to imagine not being able to walk or get back up, or even to scratch your nose.
“Alex, I have so much appreciation for you. We don’t realize what you feel.”
Hollie then quickly moved onto part two, which involves three buckets of water being poured on the challenger’s head. Although they’re soaking wet, the person has to stand still and not wipe the water away from their face or hair for 10 minutes.
“With the water, your face feels twitchy and wet and you can’t do anything about it,” Alex explained.
“It was absolutely horrible. I’m freezing and my body is shivering,” Hollie said at the conclusion of the challenge “It’s weird, the consistency of the water and not being able to move it off my face.
“It’s mind-boggling, the day-to-day things you go through, Alex. It becomes real, instead of just talk.”
Alex likened inviting friends and neighbors to participate in his “backboard water challenge” as being similar to when people shave their heads in support of an individual who is going through treatment for cancer, showing their solidarity through another’s person’s difficult journey.
“I think about this every day. I think this is important,” Alex said of the challenge. “More people are surviving things that they didn’t before. That’s part of why I came up with this challenge.”
To that end, Alex is inviting other area residents to join in on the “backboard water challenge.” He encourages them to reach out to him via Facebook Messenger by searching for “Alex Malarkey” on the app.
