Doug Vanbibber, a first year student at the University of Denver, was spending the weekend the last month with his friends at Breckinridge.

Vanbibber, who is also a club hockey goalie, was going to teach four of his friends how to snowboard. When they arrived at the ski resort, the sun was shining out. He decided not to wear his helmet. He had no intention of making any difficult runs.

At the end of the day, Vanbibber and one of his friends decided to make their only run down the Breckenridge Terrain Park. Vanbibber’ ride ended in a vicious fall. He spent nine days in the hospital, underwent a major surgery and was told he would wear a back brace for eight weeks and spend six months in recovery.

Vanbibber was unconscious for over a minute. Vanbibber said that he was unconscious for over a minute. When the ski patrol got to him, he was taken down the mountain and immediately placed in an ambulance. The ski patrol carefully loaded him for the long drive to Swedish Medical Center in Denver.

“I kept asking the paramedics if I would be able to walk,” said Vanbibber. “I asked them so many times that finally one of the paramedics wrote me a note. The note said, ‘You broke your lower back, you will be able to walk, and you have a severe concussion.'”

Vanbibber suffered a Grade-3 concussion, the worst possible. He also broke his L-2 and L-3 vertebrae, the two lower vertebrae in his back.

His surgery involved scraping bone from his hip and fusing it to his vertebrae with two rods and six screws. Vanbibber didn’t walk for six days, missed two weeks of school, and was forced to drop a class and make up many others.

“Know your limits and wear your helmet no matter what,” said Vanbibber.