{"id":1713,"date":"2021-08-06T13:39:22","date_gmt":"2021-08-06T13:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jaapbressers.nl\/?page_id=1713"},"modified":"2025-03-17T16:46:18","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T16:46:18","slug":"the-accident","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.jaapbressers.nl\/en\/the-accident\/","title":{"rendered":"The accident"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What happened<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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A regular day, July 20th, 2005, Albufeira in Portugal: I\u2019m going out for a \u201cquick\u201d swim.... I\u2019m a 21-year-old college student, the future is wide open for me and I will undoubtedly become a top executive somewhere. It\u2019s what I\u2019m working hard to achieve. That day, I walk into the ocean until the water is just above my waist. A nice wave comes rolling in and I decide to dive right into it. I hear a snap as my neck strikes a sandbank underwater. I immediately feel that it\u2019s bad. I have no control over my body anymore and am unable to move my limbs. I\u2019m floating face down in the water and realize I just broke my neck.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Washed ashore<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Initially, I\u2019m confident that someone will come and help me. Then I see what I think is the arm of someone who\u2019s about to rescue me. It takes me a couple of seconds to realize that it\u2019s my own arm floating next to me in an impossible position. If there\u2019s no change soon, it\u2019s end of story for me. Luckily, right after water begins to fill my lungs, a big wave flips me over and I get a chance to gasp for air.<\/p>

Bobbing on the waves, I slowly get closer to the beach. I try to call out for help, but nothing comes out of my mouth. A boy runs past, sees me lying there, and stops in his tracks. He gestures if I need help. I forcefully squeeze my eyes shut twice. He drags me onto the beach. From that moment, everything happens very fast. In no time, everyone on that beach has gathered around me and several lifeguards are standing over me. I hear my friends call out: \u201cCome on Jaap, hang in there\u201d and \u201cWe got you.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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High spinal cord injury<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The ambulance arrives, they put me on a stretcher. I have to stay awake, but all I want to do is sleep. At the hospital, they quickly take X-rays and scans. The diagnosis: a high spinal cord injury. I\u2019m paralyzed from the chest down and my hands don\u2019t work anymore. So, there I am, in a foreign country where I don\u2019t understand the language, in an unfamiliar hospital, in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar body.<\/p>

The only thing I can still feel is blind panic. I scream, but no one comes. They\u2019re used to it; they get a lot of diving accident victims here. As I keep screaming and shouting, I ultimately hear footsteps entering the room. From the corner of my eye, I see a nurse neatly checking the monitors. She then turns around and walks out again. Standard procedure.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Nurse carlos<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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And then suddenly, during the night shift, when I\u2019m having another panic attack, there\u2019s nurse Carlos. He reads the situation well, walks over to me, puts his hand on my shoulder \u2013 where I\u2019ve not lost feeling \u2013 and says: \u201cIt\u2019s okay.\u201d He instructs the other nurses on how best to approach me. He sees me, Jaap, and not just another diving accident victim. For me, he really makes a difference. \u201cSimply\u201d by genuinely taking my perspective, he gives me the push I need to realize that I\u2019m still alive.

<\/em>When I tell him this later, he replies that he was just doing his job. But I also see the pride in his eyes. At that moment, it dawns on him that by doing something that is very normal to him, something that is \u201cjust\u201d part of his job, he adds enormous value for someone else.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wat is er gebeurd? Een gewone dag, 20 Juli 2005, Albufeira in Portugal: ik ga \u2018even\u2019 zwemmen \u2026 Ik ben een 21-jarige student, de toekomst ligt wijd open en ik zal ongetwijfeld ergens topmanager worden. Daar werk ik hard voor. Die dag sta ik tot over mijn middel in het water in de zee. Er […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1713","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHet ongeluk - Jaap Bressers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Een gewone dag, 20 Juli 2005, Albufeira in Portugal: ik ga \u2018even\u2019 zwemmen \u2026 Ik ben een 21-jarige student, de toekomst ligt wijd open en ik zal ongetwijfeld ergens topmanager worden....\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jaapbressers.nl\/en\/the-accident\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jaap Bressers | Het ongeluk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Een gewone dag, 20 Juli 2005, Albufeira in Portugal: ik ga \u2018even\u2019 zwemmen \u2026 Ik ben een 21-jarige student, de toekomst ligt wijd open en ik zal ongetwijfeld ergens topmanager worden....\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.jaapbressers.nl\/en\/the-accident\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jaap Bressers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-17T16:46:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.jaapbressers.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Carlos_Portugal_3-4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"665\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jaapbressers.nl\\\/het-ongeluk\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jaapbressers.nl\\\/het-ongeluk\\\/\",\"name\":\"Het ongeluk - Jaap Bressers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jaapbressers.nl\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-06T13:39:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-17T16:46:18+00:00\",\"description\":\"Een gewone dag, 20 Juli 2005, Albufeira in Portugal: ik ga \u2018even\u2019 zwemmen \u2026 Ik ben een 21-jarige student, de toekomst ligt wijd open en ik zal ongetwijfeld ergens topmanager worden....\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jaapbressers.nl\\\/het-ongeluk\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jaapbressers.nl\\\/het-ongeluk\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jaapbressers.nl\\\/het-ongeluk\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jaapbressers.nl\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Het ongeluk\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jaapbressers.nl\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jaapbressers.nl\\\/\",\"name\":\"Topspreker Jaap Bressers\",\"description\":\"Jaap Bressers is een spreker die je raakt, vermaakt \u00e9n inspireert. 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