#zacsHope
On Friday, Nov. 20th, 2020, Zachary Abblitt suffered from a fracture to his C5 and C6 vertebra while surfing with his friend on the Oregon Coast in Brookings. He was gently pulled from the surf by his friend Daniel, transported to the local hospital via ambulance, and by that evening was flown to Mercy Medical Center in Redding, CA.
Zac had no feeling below his neck and was in surgery the day he arrived in Redding to remove part of the two vertebrae that were pinching his spinal column. Doctors also put a plug/fastener in its place to stabilize. The following day he underwent surgery again to have a stabilizing plate put in the back of his neck.
Here is his story:
Hope. It is what drives all of us. Especially in seasons of great adversity.
Zachary Abblitt was a thriving eighteen year old, just having graduated from high school, active with cross country running, biking, surfing, swimming, working out in the gym, playing the piano and bass guitar… until a miscalculated dive into the Brookings harbor ocean on November 20th broke his neck and rendered him paralyzed from the chest down. If anyone was in need of hope, it would have been Zachary.
Yet, one week post-accident, he declared from his hospital bed, bound in neck brace, saying, “I’m really excited to see where the Lord is going to take me; I’m fully trusting in Him. I know this is His will for my life, and although it may seem confusing at first, I’m excited to see how He is going to use me.”
His family created the hashtag #zacsHope to keep friends updated on his progress. His uncle created a web page, www.ZacsHope.com, and a Facebook page, Zachary Abblitt Recovery, which quickly gained over 1,300 followers. Zachary’s hope was polarizing as updates and pictures of Zachary poured in from his mom, Kristi, who began to journal though his journey.
“As the classification ‘quadriplegic’ from doctors and therapists began to come up in reference to Zac,” Kristi explained, “my heart would just seize up. Yet I would quickly find myself choking out a whisper, ‘But God, You are the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. You have the Final Word in Zachary’s life.”
Throughout the long, initial month at Mercy Hospital in Redding, California, Zachary was often seen laughing with his siblings and friends via video chats as they observed his new weaknesses, such a trying to feed himself. “I believe he laughs because he is living in faith,” his mom Kristi observed. “He knows God lives in him and is working His
power through his weaknesses. He does not seem afraid of them. But even if he is, more than being whole, he wants God to be glorified in his life.”
The momentum of Hope continued a month later, as Zachary was accepted into Craig Hospital for rehab, recognized as one of the top spinal cord rehabilitation centers in the nation. His family cheered him on with a video they created for his acceptance into Craig. “Zac is a fighter,” his brother Spencer commented, “and he is gonna do everything he can do get back on his feet.”
“Everything Zac is, and everything he has been has never come out more than in this current circumstance of watching Zac being physically paralyzed…” his sister Charis explained. “But just as Zac has set his mind to learn the piano, to surf, to be an athlete and a runner… this [rehab] will give him all that he needs to put that same determination in to waking again and running again…”
Hope came in many ways at Craig Hospital. One day during class, Zachary was showing his physical therapist his newest “trick” - that he could now move his right toe. Just as he was doing this, his doctor, Dr. Johansen, walks in to observe it too. “That’s incredible, Zac! But for some reason, I’m not surprised. And this also gives more hope for other parts to return! You just (unofficially) leapfrogged two Spinal Cord Injury classification levels - from A to C!” (Zachary was originally evaluated as an “A” - no feeling below injury level, now to “C” - some motor skill below injury level. Level E is considered normal motor and sensory function.). His physical therapist was quick to explain that this opened Zachary up for new kinds of therapy... namely the Lokomat - a robot-assisted waking therapy machine.
Not long after that, Zachary came rolling back into his room grinning ear to ear. “God gave me back a thumb,” he said. He proceeded to explain that while he was in his Upper Extremities class, where electric stimulation was hooked up to his wrists and fingers, he felt his right hand thumb come “alive”. So after the stimulation unit was turned off, he was able to bend his thumb on command.
When asked by a friend how he has been so strong through all of this, Zachary was quick to reply that his hope was Jesus. “It’s my faith in God. He’s my firm foundation. And I will just tell you that when everything is stripped away, He is the perfect One to hold onto. It’s been incredible to see that through the fire, He’s been there the entire time. I’d rather walk through the fire with God than be in the world alone without Him.”
Day after day, therapy at Craig Hospital brought new Hope. “It’s like Christmas everyday,” Zachary laughed, “as I wait to see what new body part the Lord is gonna unlock for me.” New hope continued to come, such as the moment Zachary’s running shoes were put back on his unfeeling feet - feet that used to run a half marathon per week - in order to get him lifted into a standing position again. Or Hope as his motionless legs were connected to electric stimulation to pedal a bike. Hope as he went back into the waters, the source of his accident, and learned to swim again in Craig Hospitals therapy pool.
Month after month, his mom Kristi remained by his side. “Every time I see Zachary, he is smiling,” she observed. “‘The joy of the Lord’ is not just a feel-good verse. It is truly evident in Zacs heart that the Lord is keeping him strengthened because he has absolute confidence in God. He doesn’t question God. He isn’t fearful of the future. He trusts that the Lord is in control and that He is leading him. God’s joy upon him.”
As well, Zachary’s father and pastor of Calvary Heritage in Brookings-Harbor, Rich Abblitt, noted Zachary’s joy: “Everyone wants what Zachary found - joy in the spirit and freedom in Christ. That the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen is the Lord’s story being written regarding the life of Zac who dared to surrender with no apprehension, has no regrets but joyous anticipation that God will answer him and whatever he asks for he has pleased the Lord to bring Him glory!”
In June, after being gone from home for 206 days, Zachary finally returned back to Brookings and to the harbor beach where it all began.
Back home. Back to the piano which Zac used to practice for hours. Back to the running shoes he used to wear. Back to his bass guitar he used to play. Back to his surfboard that started it all…
Yet, Kristi continues to encourage her son: “Zachary, You are going home, not less, but more of a man than when you left - all due to the work you have allowed God to do in you. You have been His workmanship, you have allowed God to write this story in your life, you have not been afraid, you have given thanks in ALL things, you have allowed the joy of the Lord to be your strength, you have continued to inspire us all…”.
And the inspiration has been wide-spread. Letters, emails, and Facebook posts of encouragement continued to pour in from family, friends, the community, and across the nation. One Facebook comment reads, “You go home with prayers from the thousands of people who have been praying for Zach and your family all these months.” And another: “Thank you for bringing us on this journey with you. Thank you for sharing what God is teaching you and allowing him to use it in our lives as well.” And still from another Facebook follower, “Although difficult I am sure, thank you for sharing this journey. I have followed it from the beginning and through it, I have grown as a person. Your son is an amazing young man. I watched every video posted and always saw his determination and never saw tears, always a smile. I hope one day to meet him. He has been a true inspiration to me as an adult.”
But for all Zachary Abblitt has been through, he still explains, “I wouldn’t describe this as a trial. It hasn’t felt like one. A trial is circumstance with no hope. Where things feel out of control.” For Zachary not to consider his paralysis a trial is mystifying to the mind, until you come hang out with him, and you hear him laugh, and you see his peace, and his joy, and his trust in the goodness of God‘s deep love for him. And suddenly Zacharys story makes perfectly good sense. “God is in control and it’s just that simple,” Kristi journals. “Indeed, #zacsHope is Jesus and that makes all the difference in the world.”
Scroll to the following time frames:
40.00. Rich (dad) Testimony
54.15 Everests (brother) song
1.30.20 Kristi (mom) Testimony
1.50.48 Charis’ (sister) song
2.22.08 Zacs Testimony
2.52.00 Spencer’s (brother) song
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