On November 16th, 1996, 26-year-old Nick Libassi defied death.  He jumped out of a plane at 15,000 feet… and fell to the ground without ever opening his parachute.

As he rapidly approached the ground, another man doing the same jump was falling way too close to Nick.  As the distance continued to close, they collided a disastrous 500 feet from the ground.  While the other jumper was able to get his chute to open and slow his descent, Nick dove headlong into a thick wooded area, sustaining multiple injuries, including a broken femur, pelvis, and a crushed L-1 vertebra.  Never losing consciousness, Nick literally crash-landed among the trees and rocks – and somehow managed to live through what for others would clearly have been a fatal fall.

Accepting Disability
As a result of his accident, however, Nick sustained a spinal cord injury that left him unable to use the lower half of his body. After two weeks in the hospital, Nick began a three-month stay in a rehabilitation unit, relearning how to live his life.  Although he was able to progress rapidly through the physical challenges, Nick struggled to accept his life as a person with a disability.  He suffered a severe, near-suicidal depression.  However, after nearly six months of crippling depression, Nick found a way to move ahead.  With the help of his supportive family and his strong religious faith, he began to “focus on living one day at a time.  It sounds cliché, but it worked for me.  I was tired of feeling sorry for myself.”

Part of his focus was to explore what type of work he wanted to do. One year following his accident, Nick returned to carpentry, a trade passed down through generations of men in his family.  He started his own workshop building furniture.  However, after four years, Nick decided to leave the world of carpentry behind for sales, a position more suited to his personality.  

Finding Success
Sales turned out to be Nick’s professional sweet spot. Without any professional experience, Nick began selling flowers wholesale.  Within 18 months, he was the top sales person in the company.  Moving from one success to another, Nick took another sales job at a new company, where he quickly broke company records, selling three million dollars of cleaning services in his first year.

Nick cites confidence and a positive attitude as key to success.  “I have a strong desire to succeed.  I’m not looking to be accepted; people like me for who I am and my abilities.”  He is now employed by Johnson & Johnson’s Independence Technology Center and represents them as the District Manager of the Eastern Region.

Nick’s initial depression after the accident was “one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through.  You have to stop thinking about what you can’t do, which is hard.  One day you’re walking, the next day you’re in the hospital, you can’t walk, dance, go to the beach.  What you don’t realize at the time is that you will be able to do those things again, just in a different way.”  Nick’s confidence has helped him try new things as well.  “You might be embarrassed trying new things, but you just have to let go and just enjoy trying something different.”

Inspiration from Mac
Nick’s greatest satisfaction in his life comes from his four-year-old nephew Mac, an ongoing source of joy and inspiration.  A few months ago, Mac was diagnosed with leukemia.  “People say how they look up to me for my strength; well, that’s how I feel about Mac.”  Nick says that Mac is expected to make a strong recovery.  Despite the difficulty, Nick knows that this experience will give Mac a greater appreciation for life.

As a person with a disability, Nick has found that spending time with kids can be especially enjoyable.  “Kids are awesome when you have a disability, they just don’t care.  They don’t see the disability; they think the chair is cool,” explains Nick.  “Mac just understands that when he is with me in public, he needs to stay close to me because I can’t go running after him.” In fact, Nick suggests, rather than being embarrassed by being with someone in a wheelchair, “having me as an uncle and a person close to him will make Mac more compassionate towards people.”

Obstacles
When Nick thinks about the obstacles he’s had in his life, he points out that none of them were caused by his disability.  He doesn’t see obstacles; he foresees problems and tries to beat them before they can overcome him.  One obstacle he’s recently overcome is a lack of higher education.  He’s currently in his fourth year of college and will receive a Business Management degree within the next two years.

Nick received some valuable advice from a quadriplegic while he was in rehab.  The man’s advice: “Get to know your body.  Don’t be upset that it doesn’t work like it did before.  It’ll work, but just in a different way.  Figure your body out and your capabilities and you’ll be able to do a lot more.”  Nick in turn offers this advice: “Always shoot for the stars.  The title of my story is, ‘I don’t want to fail,’ disabled or not.  I owe it to my family to be the best person I can be.”